Dementia death trebles in 10 years

The Sun, 10 November 2015

Deaths from dementia in the UK have trebled over the past decade - and it is now the biggest killer of women.

Some 34,000 females died from the brain-wasting disease last year. It accounted for 13.4 per cent of female deaths, up from 4.7% in 2004.

Overall it claimed more than 51,000 lives. In men, figures have risen from two to seven per cent in a decade.

Dementia claimed 17,177 male lives last year making it the second biggest killer for men behind heart disease.

Cancer remains the largest killer of men and women when all its subtypes are combined, but dementia accounts for more than one in ten deaths.

Dementia now affects 850,000 people but the number of sufferers is expected to top two million by 2051. Jeremy Hughes, head of the Alzheimer's Society said: "It is an alarming reminder of the desperate need for more investment into research to ultimately find a cure.

Data from the Office for National Statistics showed 501,424 people died last year, a fall of one per cent from 2013.