London: People who are diagnosed with dementia under the age of 65 are seven times more likely to die by suicide, a new study has found.
Researchers from Queen Mary, University of London and the University of Nottingham reviewed the medical records of 594,674 people between 2001 and 2019 to determine the relationship between a dementia diagnosis and suicide risk.
A study published in the Journal of Neurology found that two percent of people with dementia died by suicide.
However, the rate was higher in the first three months of diagnosis among those who developed the disease before the age of 65 or had a psychiatric illness.
Overall, those under 65 were 6.69 times more likely to die by suicide within three months of being diagnosed with dementia than those without dementia.
About 9 million people in the UK suffer from dementia and it is a leading cause of death. While among these people, there are about 42,000 people who are under the age of 65 who have been affected by this disease.
According to statistics, around 25,000 people of black, Asian and other ethnicities are affected by dementia. But there is no treatment for this disease.
