Dementia to overtake heart disease as leading cause of death in Australia
<p>The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/47E19CA15036B04BCA2577570014668B?Opendocument" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">a report</span></strong></a> on the leading causes of death in the country, and the news is not good. Heart disease has long been the leading cause of death in Australia, but experts warn increased rates of dementia will push the disease to the top of the list.</p>
<p>Deaths from dementia (and related diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s) are at a ten-year high, accounting for more than 21,000 last year alone. In fact, it has risen from 28.6 deaths per 100,000 people to 40.1 since 2006, while deaths from heart disease are on the decline.</p>
<p>“Heart disease has been the leading cause of death for such a long time it's almost incomprehensible that something will catch it, but as heart disease has dropped and dementia is catching up it's only a matter of time before it overtakes as the leading cause of death,” ABS Health and Vital Statistics director James Eynstone-Hinkins told the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/dementia-to-topple-heart-disease-as-leading-cause-of-death-abs-data-20160928-grqi6g.html" target="_blank"><strong><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Sydney Morning Herald</span></em></strong></a>. “If you look at that massive volume of people who are moving into their 80s you can see the potential issues for age services for managing people living with dementia.”</p>
<p>Health experts are warning that unless steps are taken to increase support and accommodation for those affected, Australia’s aged care system is at risk of crumbling under the pressure of growing dementia diagnoses. “These increasing dementia death rate figures, while startling, are all the more reason why we need to take immediate action,” Maree McCabe, acting CEO of Alzheimer’s Australia told <a href="http://www.australianageingagenda.com.au/2016/09/29/dementia-set-become-leading-cause-death-next-years/" target="_blank"><strong><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Australian Ageing Agenda</span></em></strong></a>.</p>
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