Face the deadly facts!

Not only is dementia is the third biggest killer of all Australians but it is more fatal than cancer, a new report has shown.

By Yasmin Noone

Dementia is more deadly than cancer and is the third biggest killer of all Australians, according to figures recently released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Only heart disease and stroke accounted for more deaths in 2009 than those resulting from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Lung cancer was found to be responsible for the most deaths caused by cancer but was the fourth leading cause overall.

The ABS report, Causes of Death, Australia 2009, also stated that while the proportion of deaths from heart disease had decreased over the past decade, deaths due to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease had more than doubled, with an increase of 126.5 per cent from 2000 to 2009.

CEO of Alzheimer’s Australia NSW, The Hon. John Watkins, labelled the dementia statistic as “disturbing”.

“People are not just dying with the disease but they are living with disease,” Mr Watkins said. “Someone with dementia lives, on average, for four to 12 years with the disease before they pass away.

“The [large number of people diagnosed with dementia] is skewing health care delivery and having a big impact on health care services across Australia today…Our hospitals are increasingly dealing with aged care issues and people with dementia, which is very challenging for them.

“…And it’s only going to get worse.”

Mr Watkins called on the public to pay greater attention to the disease as most people, sadly, don’t understand that a dementia diagnois is fatal.

“We’ve become very used to dealing with heart disease and cancer as major diseases impacting on us over the last 30 years. We’ve gotten used to those diseases and we know more about them.

“The flood of people with dementia has happened later. A lot of people see it as an older person’s disease, which [means it] is not as important somehow.

“It will take a while to change that [attitude] but the change is happening…I think we are at the same point with dementia as cancer was in the ‘70s. It will take a decade or so to turn around but we are starting to see that happening.”

According to Mr Watkins, action to address the increasing dementia statistic must be taken now rather than later.

“There is a huge need for an increased level of [dementia] services delivery in the community and the development of new residential facilities. Increasingly, GPs are dealing with patient after patient [who has] issues with dementia.

“Our health care system is just about coping now.  With the aged care title wave it’s going to get a whole lot worse very quickly.

“We need a vast increase in amount of funding towards dementia research. Currently, in Australia, about 10 per cent of research dollars is [put into] dementia as there is put into heart disease or cancer. We need more money spent on research so hopefully that will lead to an invention or a cure that will change the future.

“We need a lot more resources in community care so people, once diagnosed, can stay at home much longer than is now possible.

“The PC inquiry into aged care is the opportunity for the federal government to make a difference in this area. We are hopeful that they will take hold of this opportunity.”

Tags: abs, aged-care, alzheimers-australia-nsw, alzheimers-disease, cancer, dementia,

1 thought on “Face the deadly facts!

  1. If you plan to care for these folk at home, then you need to provide opportunities for respite care, such as Adult day care, residential overnight mini vacations, caregivers to go to the home for time each week to relieve the family caregivers etc.

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