Patients with severe dementia may briefly regain their memory months before death

Some patients with severe dementia can become lucid for a short time before death, sometimes up to six months before, a new study has found.

Episodes of lucidity can be induced by the presence of a loved one or music

Cases of loved ones and health care workers describing people diagnosed with dementia suddenly becoming lucid, engaging in complex conversations and sharing old memories before they died have been documented since the 1850s. But previous research has suggested that this period of lucidity occurs only a few hours to a few days before death.

The new study, published in the journal Alzheimer and Dementia, showed that a growing number of such patients regain their memory briefly more than six months before they die. This suggests that there are several types of lucid episodes, and not all of them signal imminent death, the Independent cites.

Some episodes of lucidity can also be caused by external stimuli, such as the presence of a loved one or music, the study found.
These types of lucid episodes usually coincided with family visits, reported more frequently by children who did not live with the patients and had the lowest frequency of contact.

The finding suggests that unusual or infrequent family visits may trigger a lucid response from such a patient.