Dementia

The age-standardised death rate for Australians with dementia recorded on their death certificates fell during the first 10 months of 2020, probably as a result of measures designed to prevent COVID-19 infections also limiting the spread of other infectious respiratory diseases. However, fatal COVID-19 outbreaks involved many people with dementia—257 (30%) of the 858 people who died due to COVID-19 during this period had dementia recorded on their death certificate.

This report examined the health services usage of people with dementia in their last year of life and the findings have important implications for Australia’s health and aged care systems. The report shows people with dementia who died aged 65 or over generally used health services less in their last year of life than people without dementia. People with younger-onset dementia used health services more than older people with dementia.