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Doctors say it is possible that an Alzheimer's patient could progress to the point that damage from the disease to the centers of the brain that control breathing could cause death, but patients rarely get that far without an infection setting in.
When people are diagnosed with Alzheimerâs at about age 60 or 65, they generally decline more slowly. Their life expectancy is then on the order of 12 or 14 years, and some may even live up to 20 years longer. But when people are diagnosed at age 80 or 85, their Alzheimerâs tends to progress more rapidly. Their advanced age also increases the probability of their death, and they generally survive only 5 to 8 years.