Provisional analysis into a spike in deaths during 2015 has shown that the increase was largely due to deaths from Alzheimer’s and other dementias, and from respiratory diseases. The report, published today (7 April) by the Office for National Statistics, follows data showing that 2015 saw the largest year on year increase in deaths in England and Wales since 1968.
Hilary Evans, Chief Executive of Alzheimer’s Research UK, the UK’s leading dementia research charity, said: “This analysis further underlines the devastating impact of dementia and the scale of the challenge we face. In recent decades advances in research have successfully reduced the number of deaths from other conditions such as heart disease, but these figures highlight a stark truth: currently no-one survives a diagnosis of dementia. Research has the power to defeat dementia, but we must invest in research if we are to find the treatments and preventions that are so desperately needed.
“With an ageing population, the number of people with dementia is increasing and there are currently no treatments to slow or stop diseases like Alzheimer’s. It’s likely that some of the increase may be down to improvements in diagnosis rates, and the fact that dementia is increasingly being acknowledged as a cause of death on official death certificates. We know that in the later stages of dementia people can be more prone to infections, and it’s also likely that the increase in respiratory diseases in 2015 drove some of the increase in deaths from dementia during this period.”
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For further information, or to speak with Hilary Evans, please contact Kirsty Marais, Media and Communications Manager at Alzheimer’s Research UK on 0300 111 5 666, 07826 559233 or email press@alzheimersresearchuk.org
Notes to editors:
• Ref: The ONS report, Provisional analysis of death registrations: 2015 is available online at www.ons.gov.uk/releases/provisionalanalysisof2015deathregistrationsinenglandandwales
• Alzheimer’s Research UK is the UK’s leading charity specialising in finding preventions, treatments and a cure for dementia.
• To help us defeat dementia, donate today by visiting www.alzheimersresearchuk.org or calling 0300 111 5555.
• We are currently supporting dementia research projects worth over £33 million in leading Universities across the UK.
• Our Defeat Dementia campaign, a pledge to raise £100 million in five years to grow the research field and accelerate progress towards new treatments and preventions, was announced by the Prime Minister at the G8 legacy event on 19 June 2014. For more information visit www.dementiablog.org/defeat-dementia
