The discussion about dementia deaths among Australians has so far been restricted to deaths due to dementia, that is, where dementia was recorded as the underlying cause of death (UCOD). In addition to the underlying cause of death, the National Mortality Database contains information on up to 19 associated causes of death (ACOD)—that is, other causes that were instrumental or significantly contributed to the death. Given people with dementia often have other health conditions and there can only be 1 underlying cause of death recorded, it is important to also account for all other cases where Australians died with dementia (where dementia was recorded as either the underlying cause or an associated cause of death).
In 2020, 14,500 people died due to dementia (9,100 women and 5,300 men). In comparison, 25,700 people died with dementia (15,300 women and 10,400 men). This is an important difference as people who have dementia often have other health conditions, which may cause their death rather than dementia (Table S3.7).
Leading underlying causes of death
In 2020, the leading underlying causes of death for people who had dementia recorded as an associated cause of death were:
- coronary heart disease (1,700 deaths)
- cerebrovascular disease (1,500 deaths)
- accidental falls (770 deaths)
- Parkinson’s disease (680 deaths)
- diabetes (680 deaths) (Figure 3.7).
As a person may have multiple types of dementia, it is possible for a person to have dementia recorded as both the underlying and associated cause of death. For example, a person may have Alzheimer’s disease as the underlying cause and Vascular dementia as an associated cause of death. Among the 11,200 people who died with at least 1 type of dementia recorded as an associated cause, 362 (2.5%) also had dementia recorded as the underlying cause of death (Table S3.9).
The leading underlying causes of death were fairly similar for men and women where dementia was an associated cause, but varied somewhat with increasing age— Accidental falls was more common with increasing age, whereas deaths due to Diabetes decreased with increasing age.