SerpApi.Org
Spouses of people who develop dementia are significantly more likely to develop the condition themselves, according to a large new study of nearly 1 million married people in Taiwan.
The study, published as a cohort analysis using Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database, found that women whose spouses had dementia faced a 74 percent higher risk of developing dementia themselves compared with women whose spouses did not have the condition. Men in the same situation faced a 69 percent higher risk. The findings suggest that dementia risk is not confined to the individual diagnosed, but can extend across a household, according to the researchers.
Newsweek has contacted the study’s authors via email for further comment.
How the Study Was Done
Researchers tracked health records from 1998 to 2022, drawing on a database that covers nearly 99 percent of Taiwan’s population. They identified spouses of people newly diagnosed with dementia and compared them with a matched group of spouses whose partners had no dementia diagnosis. Each person exposed to a spouse’s dementia diagnosis was matched with up to four unexposed people of the same birth year, sex, income level, and residential area.
The final matched group included 955,105 people in total. That included 118,904 women and 72,117 men whose spouses had dementia, compared with 475,616 women and 288,468 men whose spouses did not.
The largest share of participants were between 65 and 74 years old when they entered the study.
Most individuals involved resided in urban areas, and nearly half were in the lowest income category which could potentially point to caregiving being provided at home, additional stress and a spouse’s routine exposure to their partner with dementia.
What the Researchers Found
Spouses of people with dementia had a higher risk of developing all-cause dementia than those whose partners were unaffected. For women, the risk was 74 percent higher, with a five-year absolute risk difference of 2.75 percentage points. For men, the risk was 69 percent higher, with a 5-year absolute risk difference of 3.49 percentage points. Similar patterns emerged when researchers looked specifically at Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia, the two most common forms of the condition.
The relative increase in risk was more pronounced among younger spouses, while the actual gap in risk between exposed and unexposed spouses grew larger with age. The link between a partner’s dementia diagnosis and one’s own risk was weaker among people with higher incomes or more children, but was otherwise consistent regardless of sex or whether someone lived in a rural or urban area.
Dr. Kamal Wagle, a geriatrician at Hackensack University Medical Center, spoke with Newsweek about the findings.
“The study’s fundamental findings are consistent with previous ones, the demands on caregivers affect both mental and physical health,” Wagle said. “This leaves little to no time for self-care, whether it be exercise, mentally decompressing, preparing healthy meals, social connections or recreational activities as low-key as reading a book.
“Caregivers often experience chronic stress, particularly when they alone are carrying the responsibility of tending to someone with dementia. Stress is a well-known risk factor for cognitive decline, and it is a factor that can lead to such unhealthy habits such as overeating, smoking and leading a sedentary life.
“Simply put, caregivers who share a household with a dementia patient often have little time to care for themselves. Many struggle through interrupted or little sleep, and they often put off their own medical needs for lack of time or lack of a support network to step in when they need a break.”
Why It Matters
The authors say the results point to the need for a household-level approach to assessing dementia risk, rather than looking at individuals in isolation. Researchers have previously suggested several possible explanations for why dementia risk might be shared between spouses, including similar lifestyles and environments, and the toll that caregiving can take through stress, disrupted sleep, social isolation, and poor health behaviors.
The study’s authors say the findings support wider screening and support systems that take a person’s family situation, and not just their own health history, into account.
“Future studies should focus on a more nuanced look into how the intensity of caregiving affects the risk for dementia,” Wagle said.
Reference
Wang, S., Lin, M., Fan, C. C., et al. (2026). Spousal Dementia Exposure and Risk of Dementia. JAMA Network Open. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.24175.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Kara Dolman and Emma Lee-Sang
Related Articles
