How do people actually die from Alzheimer’s Disease?
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Geriatric psychiatrist here-by far and away the most deaths that can be directly attributed to Alzheimer’s disease (or most dementias in general) is pneumonia. As dementias progress in severity over time, individuals stricken with the illness tend to lose control of some of their autonomic muscular actions.
Unfortunately, these individuals begin to aspirate their food, drink, and even their saliva. When this occurs it can cause severe pneumonia. This can lead to the need for intubation/respiratory failure and possibly sepsis. Due to the nature of the loss of swallowing control it becomes an eventuality that they will pass away from pneumonia, even with extreme medical interventions such as IV antibiotics, feeding tube placements, and being placed on a ventilator.
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