Life Expectancy and Ageing
People with Down syndrome are living longer and healthier lives than they have in the past. Life expectancy of people with Down syndrome has dramatically increased over the past 50 years, with the average life expectancy of a person with Down syndrome in Australia being 60 years of age.
Life expectancy of people with Down syndrome has dramatically increased over the past 50 years. The average life expectancy of a person with Down syndrome is now around 60 years of age [1]. Australian research found that by 2000, 75% of people with Down syndrome in Western Australia had survived to age 50, 50% to age 58.6, and 25% to age 62.9 [2].
The increased life expectancy of people with Down syndrome is likely due to improvements in general and medical care. Advances in the treatment of congenital heart disease and infections amongst others, have resulted in the survival of the majority of people with Down syndrome into adulthood.[3]
As the rate of older people living with Down syndrome increases, we are learning more about how people with Down syndrome experience older age and how they can be best supported.
People with Down syndrome are more likely to develop dementia than other people in the population. Alzheimer’s disease is the most prevalent form of dementia in adults with Down syndrome. While different studies show different rates, research suggests that more than half of people with Down syndrome have a diagnosis of dementia by the time they reach 60.[4]
Often people with Down syndrome have difficulty getting access to appropriate assessment and referrals and may face delays in diagnosis. Functional decline of adults with Down syndrome may also be the result of sensory and musculoskeletal impairments.
Women with Down syndrome experience early menopause, on average by the age of 45 years. People with Down syndrome are at risk of osteoporosis and early menopause increases this risk. Women with Down syndrome who reach menopause younger than 45 years have a greater chance of developing dementia (Cosgrove et al, 1999; Schupf et al, 2003).
Preventative and modifying treatments for Alzheimer’s disease in the future may contribute to a further increase in life expectancy of people with Down syndrome well beyond 60 years (Torr et al, 2010)
References:
[1] (Torr et al, 2010)
[2] (Glasson et al., 2002 in Torr et al, 2010)
[3] (Torr et al, 2010)
[4] (Torr et al, 2010)
Torr, J., Strydom, A., Patti, P. and Jokinen, N. (2010). Aging in Down Syndrome: Morbidity and Mortality Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, March 2010, Volume 7:1, pp 70–81.
Sinai, A., T. Chan, and A. Strydom (2014). The Epidemiology of Dementia in People with
Intellectual Disabilities. Intellectual Disability and Dementia: Research into Practice.
Cosgrave MP, Tyrrell J, McCarron M, Gill M, Lawlor BA. (1999). Age at onset of dementia and age of menopause in women with Down’s syndrome. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 43(Pt 6):461-5.
Schupf N, Pang D, Patel BN, Silverman W, Schubert R, Lai F, et al. (2003). Onset of dementia is associated with age at menopause in women with Down’s syndrome. Annals of neurology. 2003;54(4):433-8.
Last updated: June 2022