Dementia becomes leading cause of death in England and Wales

New official data has shown that dementia has overtaken heart disease to become the leading cause of death in England and Wales.

Figures from the Officer for National Statistics have revealed that dementia accounted for 61,686 of the 529,655 deaths registered during 2015, or 11.6 percent of the overall total.

Since 2010, mortality rates for Alzheimer's and other types of dementia have increased, whereas the other top four leading causes of death – ischaemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, chronic lower respiratory diseases and lung cancer – have all seen their associated mortality rates drop in the last 15 years.

Other factors involved include improved life expectancies, the availability of better treatments for other conditions, and progress in the effective diagnosis of dementia, meaning it is now given more weight on death certificates.

However, the biggest problem remains the fact that no cure for dementia has yet been devised, meaning everyone diagnosed with the condition eventually succumbs to it.

Hilary Evans, chief executive of Alzheimer's Research UK, said: "With growing numbers of people living with dementia, we urgently need treatments that can stop or slow the diseases that drive this devastating condition."

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