Last Updated on December 12, 2023
New analysis from Alzheimer’s Research UK*, has confirmed that dementia continues to be the UK’s leading cause of death.
According to the new analysis, 74,261 people died from dementia in 2022, compared with 69,178 in 2021. Dementia now accounts for more than one in ten of all deaths in the UK, ahead of conditions like ischaemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease**.
Dementia has been the leading cause of death in women in the UK since 2011 and the same trend continued in 2022, with over 48,000 women dying from the condition compared with over 26,000 men***. Among the devolved nations, Northern Ireland had highest dementia death rate at 11.8%, compared with 11.4% in England and Wales, and 10% in Scotland.
Alzheimer's Research UK says that recent research breakthroughs in treatment and diagnosis are finally bringing hope that one day a cure can be found. But sustaining this momentum needs greater ambition from the current and future governments to reach a future free from dementia. The charity has set out a series of recommendations in its report, Tipping Point: The Future of Dementia, which outlines the actions needed to transform the way dementia is prevented, diagnosed, and treated, and to ultimately find a cure.
Recommendations in the report include to:
- Create a cross-governmental ‘Strategy for the Prevention of Ill Health’ to address the health and lifestyle factors that affect our risk of developing dementia. For example, exposure to air pollution, and unmanaged hearing loss.
- Commit to investing £16m in diagnostic infrastructure, equipment, and workforce training, including 50 new band 6/7 nurses across the UK. This should be followed by sustained annual investment of £10m until new diagnostic tools, like blood tests, are ready to replace existing methods like lumbar punctures.
- Instruct the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to consider the cost of informal care and carer’s quality of life, when assessing the cost-effectiveness of new dementia treatments for the NHS.
- Establish the UK as a world leader in dementia research by capitalising on initiatives such as the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission and increase research opportunities for people to participate.
Hilary Evans, Chief Executive of Alzheimer’s Research UK said, ‘This new data paints a stark picture of the scale and impact of dementia across the UK, and unfortunately, it’s not surprising. We fear these figures are likely an underestimate because many people with dementia don’t even receive a formal diagnosis. Data on who gets diagnosed and where is frustratingly incomplete, and this makes dementia a huge blind spot for healthcare decision-makers and politicians.’
Evans added, ‘Dementia is the biggest health crisis of our time, casting a dark shadow over the near million people affected by the condition in the UK. Not only does it bring fear, heartbreak, and harm to the ones we love, but it’s also having a huge impact on our economy.’
Dementia costs the UK £25bn annually, with loved ones providing over one billion hours of unpaid care to those living with dementia.
Visit the Alzheimer’s Research UK website to download the report in full.
In other news, nominations have opened for the Learning Disability and Autism Leaders’ List annual awards 2024.
References
* Incorporates new Northern Ireland mortality data (released 26 October 2023). Figure calculated using the leading cause of death grouping developed by the World Health Organisation and adopted by the reporting bodies in each of the four nations. Data sources from Office for National Statistics (England and Wales), National Records of Scotland and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.
** Other leading causes of death in the UK for 2022 were ischaemic heart disease (68,078), cerebrovascular disease (33,976), chronic lower respiratory disease (33,891) and malignant neoplasm of the trachea, bronchus, and lung (33,508).
*** Dementia was leading cause of death for women in 2022 (48,147), and in men it was the second leading cause of death (26,114).