Dementia risk rises 70% for spouses, study finds, but it's not contagious

Spouses of individuals diagnosed with dementia face a significantly higher risk of developing the condition themselves, with their risk increasing by approximately 70%, according to a new study. This elevated risk, however, does not imply that dementia is contagious.

Instead, researchers from Taiwan's National Health Research Institutes propose that the increased vulnerability stems from decades of shared life experiences. These include similar socioeconomic environments, lifestyle habits, and the profound emotional and physical toll of long-term caregiving for a partner with dementia.

The study, published in JAMA Network Open, analyzed data from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database, covering nearly the entire population. Researchers compared the outcomes of over 191,000 spouses of newly diagnosed dementia patients with a control group of over 764,000 individuals whose spouses did not have dementia. The analysis revealed that women whose husbands developed dementia were 74% more likely to be diagnosed, while men whose wives developed dementia had a 69% increased risk.