Dementia has surpassed coronary heart disease as the primary cause of ‘disease burden’ for Australians aged 65 and above.
The most recent update to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s (AIHW) report, Dementia in Australia, reveals that dementia accounted for nearly 230,000 years of healthy life lost among people aged 65 and over in 2022, marking a 61 per cent increase since 2011.
“Dementia is a collective term for a set of conditions that progressively impair brain function, affecting memory, speech, cognition (thought), personality, behaviour,” explains AIHW spokesperson Melanie Dunford.
The burden of disease from dementia is growing in Australia, largely due to our ageing population and also from declines in burden from other leading causes, such as coronary heart disease.
In 2022, dementia was responsible for 4.4 per cent of Australia’s disease burden, which includes both the impact of living with the condition (the non-fatal burden of disease) and dying prematurely (fatal burden). It was the second leading cause of death in Australia in 2020, accounting for 9.6 per cent of all deaths.
In 2022, it was estimated that 401,300 Australians were living with dementia. This number increased by 4 per cent from the previous year and is projected to more than double to 849,300 by 2058.
The report also includes information on the behaviours and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD), which refers to a range of non-cognitive symptoms common among people living with dementia, including agitation, aggression, insomnia and anxiety.
“While memory, language and cognition deterioration are hallmarks of dementia, most people with dementia will also experience at least one type of BPSD as their dementia progresses,” Dunford said.
BPSD can significantly impact people with dementia, carers and family. It has been linked with early admission to residential care, increased hospitalisation, distress for carers and reduced functional ability for the person with dementia.
Among those referred to BPSD support services delivered by Dementia Support Australia between July 2021 and June 2022, agitation was the most recorded primary behaviour, accounting for almost 35 per cent of referrals. This was followed by physical aggression (25 per cent), verbal aggression (11 per cent) and anxiety (6.4 per cent).
While there are no current prevalence estimates for BPSD in Australia, this report presents information on the prevalence of select symptoms using available data. Further work is required to understand the full impact and cause(s) of BPSD.
The term ‘burden of disease’ refers to the loss of healthy life each year in Australia due to injury, illness or premature deaths. It is the gold standard approach for measuring the impact of illness, injury and death. The Australian Burden of Disease Study 2022 includes national estimates for 220 diseases and injuries.