In addition to the underlying cause of death (UCOD), 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. This means that it is possible to examine not only people who die due to dementia (i.e. UCOD of dementia), but also people who die with dementia (i.e. UCOD or ACOD of dementia).
In 2019, 14,700 people died due to dementia (9,200 women and 5,400 men). In comparison, 26,100 people died with dementia (15,700 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 2019, the leading underlying causes of death for people who had dementia recorded as an associated cause of death were:
- coronary heart disease (1,800 deaths)
- cerebrovascular disease (1,600 deaths)
- accidental falls (740 deaths)
- Parkinson’s disease (720 deaths)
- diabetes (660 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 11,700 people who died with at least 1 type of dementia recorded as an associated cause, 340 (2.9%) 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.