People with Younger Onset Dementia (YOD) placed in support services for the elderly could experience high levels of distress as they lost contact with social networks and age-appropriate activities, Dr Rimkeit warned.
Speaking at the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists conference in Dunedin this week, she said YOD affected people in middle age, rather than old age.
And such people had ''very different needs and interests'' and were at a ''completely different stage in life'' than elderly dementia patients.
Dr Rimkeit discussed her recent study, ''Experiencing Place: How people with younger onset dementia experience aged care''.
This qualitative study involved nine people with YOD and a further group of associated caregivers.
The research highlighted the distress that younger people experienced when they felt enclosed in an aged care facility that was not designed for their specific needs.
Losing the lively exercise and social networking they needed, they could feel their ''life is over''.
It was likely there were already between 1000 to 5000 New Zealanders with younger onset dementia, she said in an interview.
It was recognised best practice that specialised YOD facilities be provided, but they were rare in New Zealand.
District health board-supervised day activity programmes should be established throughout the country.
And small, perhaps six-person residential facilities should be developed to provide respite care and meet longer-term needs, Dr Rimkeit suggested.
Younger people with dementia were physically fitter than elderly patients, and needed facilities, such as a nearby loop track, where they could exercise, by walking or running.
As the baby-boomer generation aged, a more ''inclusive'' approach was needed.
