WEDNESDAY, July 15, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- Significant productivity loss is seen up to 15 years before diagnosis of early-onset dementia (EOD), according to a study published online July 8 in Neurology.
Ave Kivisild, M.D., from the University of Eastern Finland in Kuopio, and colleagues conducted a retrospective, population-based, longitudinal cohort study of patients with EOD (dementia affecting individuals younger than 65 years) to evaluate income trajectories and societal productivity loss. Ten randomly selected matched controls were used for each study case.
The EOD cohort included 793 patients: 421 with Alzheimer disease (AD), 179 with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) spectrum disorders, 46 with α-synucleinopathies (α-SYNUs), and 147 with other EOD etiologies; they were compared to 7,926 age- and sex-matched controls. The researchers found that patients with EOD showed substantial and progressively increasing productivity loss up to 15 years before diagnosis compared with controls, with cumulative losses of 74,577 euros ($85,293.34) per patient. Productivity loss emerged six years before diagnosis in the AD group (2,767 euros) and reached 11,431 euros at diagnosis. Loss appeared 11 years before diagnosis in the FTD group (4,799 euros) and increased to 16,116 euros at diagnosis. Differences were variable in the α-SYNU group and were significant only at diagnosis (11,284 euros). Productivity loss remained consistently high in the other EOD group across follow-up (8,744 euros at diagnosis).
"These findings may partly be explained by delays in diagnosis, which can prolong the period of unrecognized symptoms, and they underscore the harmful, long-term socioeconomic impact of early-onset dementia," coauthor Eino Solje, M.D., Ph.D., also from the University of Eastern Finland, said in a statement.
Several authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry, including Roche; Roche Oy funded the study.
