Your work efficiency could predict early signs of dementia 15 years before diagnosis

A study has found that a person's work performance can reveal whether they might get diagnosed with dementia. Researchers found that 15 years before diagnosis, the disease begins to hamper work productivity.

In Short

• Finnish researchers studied 793 patients and 7,926 matched people without dementia
• Income data from tax records was used to estimate productivity losses
• Average productivity loss reached 74,577 euros per person across the study

A new study has found that people who develop early-onset dementia could experience a gradual decline in work productivity as early as 15 years before they are diagnosed.

The study, published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, found an association between early-onset dementia and reduced earning capacity. However, researchers stressed that the study does not prove that dementia directly causes lower work productivity before diagnosis.

Early-onset dementia refers to any type of dementia diagnosed in people younger than 65 years.

Productivity losses began years before diagnosis

Researchers analysed data from 793 people diagnosed with early-onset dementia at two hospitals in Finland over a 12-year period. They compared them with 7,926 people of the same age and sex who did not have dementia.

The study included 421 people with Alzheimer's disease, 179 with frontotemporal dementia, 46 with alpha-synucleinopathies such as dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson's disease dementia, and 147 with other forms of dementia, including vascular and mixed dementias.

Using national tax records, researchers compared participants' annual incomes to estimate productivity losses. They also considered factors such as education level and other medical conditions that could influence earnings.

The researchers found that people with early-onset dementia experienced steadily increasing productivity losses up to 15 years before their diagnosis.

On average, each person with early-onset dementia lost 74,577 euros (around Rs 75 lakh or USD 86,000) in productivity over the study period compared with people without dementia.

"The study found productivity loss was strikingly large, averaging around 12,000 euros (around Rs 12 lakh or USD 13,800) per person each year, with losses beginning up to 15 years before diagnosis," said Dr Eino Solje, the study's lead author from the University of Eastern Finland.

Different dementias showed different patterns

The timing of productivity decline varied depending on the type of dementia.

For people with Alzheimer's disease, productivity losses started about six years before diagnosis. Among those with frontotemporal dementia, the decline began around 11 years before diagnosis. In people with alpha-synucleinopathies, productivity losses became noticeable only around the time they were diagnosed.

People with other forms of dementia showed consistently high productivity losses throughout the study period.

"Early-onset dementia affects people during their most productive years and is associated with a decreased ability to work, increased unemployment and leaving jobs sooner than planned," Dr Solje said.

He added that these changes could reduce household income and have wider economic consequences.

The researchers believe the long period of declining productivity may partly be due to delays in diagnosing dementia, allowing symptoms to go unnoticed for years.

The study had some limitations. Since it analysed past records, it cannot establish a cause-and-effect relationship between early-onset dementia and lower productivity.

The researchers said future studies should track changes in thinking and memory over time using neuropsychological tests and develop interventions that may help delay productivity decline.

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