As the Australian population grows and ages, the number of
people with dementia is expected to rise, increasing the
requirement for appropriate care services and placing significant
demands on the amount of time and help provided by carers, says a
new report released today by the Australian Institute of Health and
Welfare (AIHW).
The report, Dementia in Australia: national data analysis
and development, shows the number of people with dementia is
expected to increase to almost 465,000 by 2031.
Ms Ann Peut, Head of the AIHW's Ageing and Aged Care Unit said,
'It is not possible to provide an accurate estimate of the number
of people with dementia and we still need to use overseas studies
to help derive this. Based on the studies used for this report,
there were 37,000 new cases of dementia in 2003, making a total of
175,000 people with dementia in Australia in that year.
'Around 75,000 people with dementia were living in cared
accommodation in 2003. Of those living in residential aged care,
61% were in the two highest care categories.
'People with dementia use a substantial amount of health and
aged care services - for example in 2003 they used 1.4 million
hospital patient days and 24.7 million residential aged care
bed-days. They also require a significant amount of time and help
from their carers and many carers experience distress associated
with the behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia,' Ms
Peut said.
The report also takes a new approach to estimating expenditure
and outlines ways in which data sources can be developed to help
improve our knowledge and understanding of dementia.
AIHW economist, Mr John Goss said, 'This new approach to
estimating expenditure allows us to take account of other health
conditions a person with dementia may have, resulting in estimates
that can be specifically attributed to the dementia condition.
'Calculated this way, total health and welfare expenditure for
dementia in 2003 is estimated at $1.4 billion, with the majority in
the residential aged care sector where $993 million is attributed
to dementia.'
Although existing national data collections include a wide array
of relevant information, data about dementia is still patchy and of
variable quality', said Ms Peut.
'This is mainly because of difficulties in collecting
statistical information about people with mild or moderate
dementia, variable collection methodologies and inconsistencies
between collections. There is also limited national data about
carers of people with dementia.
'We have worked closely with an expert Reference Group to put
forward a menu of data elements which could be drawn on to improve
the collection of dementia data,' she said.
31 January 2007
Further information:
- Ann Peut, AIHW (prevalence, incidence, service use &
carers), 02 6244 1108 or 0419 296 053
- John Goss, AIHW (burden of disease, expenditure), 02 6244 1151
or 0402 346 379
- Professor Henry Brodaty (clinical inquiries), 02 9382 3759 or
02 9385 9060
For media copies of the report: Publications
Officer, AIHW, tel. 61 2 6244 1032.
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for availability of the report, Dementia in Australia:
national data analysis and development.