Psychiatric Disorder Burden Considerably Raises Dementia Risk, french Study Finds
Paris, France – Individuals with four or more psychiatric disorders face over eleven times the risk of developing dementia compared to those with a single psychiatric condition, according to a new study published recently. researchers at Bicêtre Hospital in France analyzed over a decade of electronic health records, revealing a strong correlation between the number of mental health diagnoses and the likelihood of a dementia diagnosis.
The research, conducted by Baudouin and colleagues, examined data from 3,688 patients aged 45 and over within the ‘Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris’ (AP-HP) Clinical Data Warehouse, spanning from August 29, 2009, to October 29, 2023. The study categorized psychiatric disorders into six groups: depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, psychotic disorders, personality disorders, substance use disorders, and bipolar disorders.Of those studied, 653 were diagnosed with dementia.
After adjusting for age, sex, and cardiovascular risk factors, the study found that having two psychiatric conditions was associated with a 2.3 times increased risk of dementia,three conditions with a 4.6 times increased risk,and four or more conditions with an 11.1 times increased risk, relative to those with only one psychiatric diagnosis.
While the study highlights the potential of assessing psychiatric disorder burden as a predictor for dementia vulnerability, researchers caution that the relatively small sample size and single-center recruitment necessitate validation through larger, more diverse studies. The temporal relationship between psychiatric diagnoses and dementia onset also remains unclear, making it arduous to establish a definitive cause-and-effect link.
These findings arrive as forecasts from GlobalData epidemiologists predict a rise in diagnosed dementia cases in France among those aged 60 and older, increasing from 240,000 in 2025 to 290,000 in 2032 for both men and women.
