Survival and excess mortality in 606 dementia patients admitted to a psychogeriatric nursing home were analyzed in a historical prospective 8-year follow up. The overall 2-year survival rate after admission was 55%, 60% for women and 39% for men. Patients with senile dementia of the Alzheimer's type had higher 2-year survival rates than those with multi-infarct dementia (57% vs 41%). Physical impairment, inactivity, dependency as measured on an observational scale, and comorbidity had an adverse effect on survival. Diseases with the lowest two-year survival were myocardial infarction, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, parkinsonism, pulmonary infection, anemia, pressure sores, and malignancies. The mortality rates of dementia patients were higher than those of the general population, especially during the first months after admission. This excess mortality of dementia patients was better described by an additive than by a multiplicative factor, suggesting that dementia can primarily be regarded as an independent, competing mortality risk.