Dementia now kills more Brits than any other single illness
DEMENTIA kills more Brits than any other single illness, new figures show.
It accounted for 12 per cent of all deaths in England and Wales last year, up from 11.6 per cent in 2015.
Heart disease came second - responsible for 11 per cent of all deaths.
Strokes, chest complaints like emphysema and then lung cancer came next – although cancer is the biggest killer when all types of the disease are combined.
The figures, from the Office for National Statistics, revealed more women than men die from Alzheimer’s and dementia.
The brain-wasting illnesses are to blame for almost one in six female deaths.
But heart problems are still the biggest killer of men, with nearly 14 per cent of all male deaths due to cardiac illness.
The ONS said one reason dementia is the top killer is because treatments for other deadly diseases – like cancer – have improved.
But longer lifespans and increased awareness of the incurable conditions are also factors.
It said in a statement: “People are tending to live longer and dementia and Alzheimer’s disease mainly affects people over 65 – so the numbers affected are increasing.
“A better understanding of dementia and improved diagnosis is also likely to have caused increased reporting of dementia on death certificates.’
Although dementia kills more women, deaths rates among men are rising, the ONS said.
“Male life expectancy has been improving at a slightly faster rate than women’s in recent years.
“This is likely to have contributed to the 3.9 per cent increase in the number of deaths from dementia and Alzheimer disease in men.”
A total of 525,048 deaths were registered in England and Wales in 2016, fractionally lower than 2015.
