Dementia Remains Leading Cause of Death After Rise, Figures Show

MRI brain of a dementia patient with left parietal atrophy asymmetry. Atthapon Raksthaput/Shutterstock

Dementia remained the leading cause of death in the UK in 2023, according to new analysis, accounting for more than one in 10 deaths nationwide and increasing 1.5 percent from the previous year.

The UK’s leading Alzheimer’s research charity, which carried out the analysis, is calling on the government to do more to address the “crisis” through better health and social care, warning it will only worsen with an ageing population.

Alzheimer’s Research UK used data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for England and Wales, the National Records of Scotland, and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, revealing that 75,393 people died from dementia in 2023, compared with 74,261 in the previous 12 months and 69,178 in 2021.

It added that the upcoming Ten-Year Health Plan for the NHS should be used to “future-proof” dementia care so the condition “doesn’t remain a death sentence.”

The charity’s Chief Executive Hilary Evans-Newton said in a statement: “This data reveals the tragic reality of dementia’s devastating impact across the UK.

“This crisis will only worsen as our population ages unless government takes action to address it.”

Overtook Heart Disease

The latest figures come almost a decade since dementia overtook heart disease as the UK’s biggest killer, a position it has held apart from in 2020 and 2021 when deaths attributed to being from or “with” COVID-19 took over.

An estimated 944,000 people in the UK currently have a diagnosis of dementia, with the charity predicting this figure could rise to 1.4 million by 2040.

Evans-Newton added: “By 2040, over 1.4 million people are expected to be living with dementia in the UK, with heartbreaking consequences for countless families and placing ever-increasing pressure on public services and the economy.

“Dementia already accounts for a quarter of hospital beds for people over 65, and the cost of dementia to the NHS has doubled in the last decade mainly due to often avoidable emergency admissions.

“The magnitude of damage caused by dementia on people and wider society can’t be ignored by government.”

According to Alzheimer’s Research UK, dementia has been the leading cause of death in women since 2011, with the trend continuing in 2023.

More Women Than Men

The figures show that significantly more females than males are killed by dementia than men, with 48,000 women dying with the condition last year compared with 27,000 men.

The analysis also found that, of the four nations, Northern Ireland had the highest dementia death rate at 11.7 percent, followed by by England (11.6 percent), Wales (10.6 percent), and Scotland (10.2 percent).

Evans-Newton said: “The government’s Ten-Year Health Plan offers a crucial opportunity to harness groundbreaking research developments and address the growing impact of dementia on society.

“New treatments and diagnostics are making their way to the UK, and we are learning more and more about how we can protect our brain health and reduce our risk of developing dementia in the future.

“The Ten-Year Health Plan must be used as an opportunity to capitalise on the recent advances in research, futureproof NHS dementia services and ensure dementia doesn’t remain a death sentence for everyone it touches.”

Not Fully Understood

Alzheimer’s is a disease in the brain, whereas the term dementia refers to a collection of symptoms. Alzheimer’s disease causes cognitive decline, and is understood to be the most common reason why people get dementia, accounting for about 60–70 percent of cases.

While age is obviously a factor, the reasons why some people develop Alzheimer’s are not properly understood. There is believed to be a genetic component, while lifestyle and environmental factors may also play a role.

Alzheimer’s is thought to be caused by the abnormal build-up of two proteins known as amyloid and tau. Deposits of amyloid, called plaques, build up around brain cells, while deposits of tau form “tangles” within brain cells. It is not fully understood how these proteins are involved in the loss of brain cells, but research into this is ongoing.

Other common causes of dementia include vascular disease, which prevents blood from getting to the brain properly, and Lewy body disease, caused by abnormal deposits of a specific protein.

Care minister Stephen Kinnock, whose mother, the former MEP and Labour minister Glenys Kinnock, died last December after living with Alzheimer’s for six years, described the condition as “a cruel disease which has a terrible impact on so many families, including my own.”

He told the PA news agency, “This data reveals the profound toll dementia has on individuals and their loved ones in the UK.”

Kinnock said that through its forthcoming plan, the government “is committed to getting the NHS back on its feet and creating a society where every person with dementia receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life.”

“We will put Britain at the forefront of transforming treatment for dementia, backing research into the disease and ensuring that new clinically and cost-effective treatments are rolled out in a safe and timely way.”

New Drugs ‘Too Costly’

The NHS watchdog responsible for cost-benefit analysis of treatments has so far refused to approve two new drugs which are claimed to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s by clearing the toxic build-up of the protein amyloid in the brain.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) this year declined to authorise lecanemab and donanemab for use on the health service, although both are available privately and in some other countries.

Donanemab, made by Eli Lilly, was found in a clinical trial run by the manufacturer to delay the advancement of the disease by 35 percent, with scientists suggesting it could give patients a better quality of life and prevent them from needing care in a home for up to two years.

However, the trials for donanemab showed significant side effects, and while the exact cost to the NHS is unknown, the medication currently has a list price of around £25,000 per year in the United States.

NICE said the benefits of lecanemab, made by Japanese firm Eisai, were “just too small” to justify the significant cost, which could be £1.33 billion annually given the number of people eligible.