Alzheimer’s is now the 10th leading cause of death in UK

Alzheimer’s, which previously ranked 24th, is now the 10th leading cause of death in the UK

13:02 06 March 2013

Based on the study, which was published on Lancet, Alzheimer’s disease is now the 10th leading cause of death in the UK. Previously ranked at number 24, it jumped 14 places in just 20 years. 

However, Andrew Chidgey, director of external affairs at the Alzheimer’s Society, believes that this is an understatement. He thinks that the number of people dying from Alzheimer’s is much higher. 

 

He said, as quoted by the Daily Mail: “These figures lay out the challenge that dementia poses to the UK. In fact as the condition is often not recorded as a cause of death this may even be an understatement. Dementia is now one of the top ten, and fastest, rising causes of death.”

 

Adding: “Our population is ageing, and with numbers of people with dementia expected to soar to over a million in the next decade, the rates we are seeing today are likely to be a fraction of the numbers in future.”

 

Mr. Chidgey said that dementia death toll soars as the government fails to improve health. 

 

He added: “Despite real progress in cutting deaths we remain a poor relative to our global cousins on many measures of health, something I want to change.”