Greater Risk of Dementia When Spouse Has Dementia? The Cache County Study

I have several family members that have been diagnosed with dementia. I saw in the chapter it talks about dementia, so I decided to find an article discussing this disorder. Some of the symptoms of dementia are short-term memory loss, difficulty performing familiar tasks, personality changes, mood swings, and behavior disorders. Two of the main parts of the brain that are affected by dementia are the cerebrum, and cerebellum. Generally, the spouses of people diagnosed with dementia are under extreme amounts of stress. They have also been associated with physical health problems and depression. The effects of severe stress can cause damaging effects on the hippocampus in the brain and therefore affect memory. This study looks at the possible cognitive effects of those people who are spouses to people with dementia. The participants of this study consisted of 2,442 people, 1,221 married couples, of which, 253 were positively diagnosed with dementia. The participants were asked to complete the Dementia Questionnaire. The researchers took into account the exposure time. Exposure time, in this experiment, meant, “once exposed, always exposed.” So, once the spouse with dementia was positively diagnosed, the remaining spouse continued to show cognitive effects. The researchers found that the stress in the spouses of people diagnosed with dementia was, in fact, greater than in those people who weren’t married to people with dementia. Therefore, the risk of dementia is greater. The researchers noted that there was a need for further research to find what the specific reasons are as to why spouses of people with dementia are more apt to dementia themselves.

I learned from this article that the risk of being diagnosed with dementia is significantly greater when you live with someone who has dementia or you are married to a person with dementia. I would hope that I don’t marry someone with dementia, but whatever happens, happens.



Norton, M. C., Smith, K. R., Østbye, T., Tschanz, J. T., Corcoran, C., Schwartz, S., & ... Welsh-Bohmer, K. A. (2010). Greater Risk of Dementia When Spouse Has Dementia? The Cache County Study. Journal Of The American Geriatrics Society, 58(5), 895-900. doi:10.1111/j.1532-5415.2010.02806.x

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