People 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 University of Nottingham reviewed the medical records of 594,674 people between 2001 and 2019 to determine the relationship between dementia diagnosis and suicide risk.
A study published in the journal Jama Neurology found that two percent of people with dementia died by suicide.
However, the rate was higher in the three months following diagnosis among those who were diagnosed under 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 a dementia diagnosis than those without dementia.
Around 9 million people in the UK suffer from dementia and it is one of the leading causes of death. While among these people, there are about 42,000 people who are under the age of 65 who are suffering from this disease.
According to statistics, about 25,000 people of black, Asian and other nationalities are affected by dementia. But there is no cure for this disease.