Dementia in adults under 65 comes with higher suicide risk, study reveals
Seasons, October 13, 2022
People with a recent diagnosis of dementia – including adults under the age of 65 – may have an increased risk of suicide, according to new research published in the journal JAMA Neurology. “This is the first national study of suicide risk within the first 12 months of dementia diagnosis,” Jeff Temple, PhD, a licensed psychologist at UTMB’s Center for Violence Prevention (who was not involved in the study), told Seasons. “This is important because it overcomes many of the limitations of previous studies that used local samples, which limits generalizability. The large sample also allowed the researchers to examine specific predictors of suicide risk.”