Data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) yesterday showed that ischaemic heart disease contributed 9.2 per cent of all deaths in 2023 – more than any other condition.
But dementia, including Azheimer’s disease, was only marginally behind, accounting for 9.1 per cent of fatalities.
”The latest data shows that there are now less than 250 deaths separating the top two leading causes,” ABS head of mortality statistics Lauren Moran said.
“Dementia has been the leading cause of death for women since 2016, making up 12.2 per cent of female deaths and 6.4 per cent of male deaths in 2023.
“Women have longer life expectancies than men and as such are more likely to live to an age when they have a heightened risk of developing dementia.
“Dementia is also the leading cause of death in South Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and, for the first time, New South Wales.”
Heart disease has been the leading cause of death since records began in 1968, but its mortality rate has decreased by just under 90 per cent over the past 50 years.
That has led to more Australians living long enough to develop dementia, and its mortality rate has increased by almost 850 per cent over the same time.
“We’ve seen a drop in heart disease mortality and a rise in dementia deaths over time associated with both improvements in medical treatment and health care, and an ageing population,” Moran said.
With the ABS expecting dementia to overtake heart disease in the coming years, advocates have called for better treatment of the condition.
“There are currently an estimated 421,000 Australians living with dementia and without a significant intervention, this number is expected to increase to more than 812,500 by 2054,” Dementia Australia CEO Professor Tanya Buchanan said.
“As dementia edges closer to becoming the leading cause of death of Australians, it is crucial that we act now to focus on the brain health of the nation as well as provide more targeted, effective support to those impacted by dementia.”
Meanwhile, COVID-19 fell from the third largest cause of death in 2022 down to ninth last year, with the number of fatalities from the virus roughly halving to just over 5000.
“Despite these drops, virus-related deaths and mortality rates from all causes were still higher than in the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, when we saw record low mortality rates,” Moran said.
Suicide was the leading cause of premature death. More than 3000 people took their own lives – about three-quarters of whom were men – and that number is expected to increase as more coronial information becomes available.
The overall number of deaths in Australia fell by 4.1 per cent to 183,131.
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