It seems like forever that older Australians could bet on heart disease grinding them down and eventually killing them.

If a heart attack couldn’t be counted on to take you out, then what would?

Well, that has changed. The brain is more likely to leave older Australians disabled, hospitalised and dead.

We’ve been told repeatedly that dementia was coming to get many more of us – and it has.

A fresh update

The impact of dementia in Australia has more than doubled in the past 12 years, according to the latest report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

Dementia has overtaken coronary heart disease as the leading cause of disease burden among Australians aged 65 and over, the AIHW said in an update to its 2022 report.

‘Burden of disease’ is the gold standard public health measure of the years of healthy life that are lost in Australia – millions of years in total – because of injury, illness or premature deaths.

The AIHW update shows that dementia was responsible for almost 230,000 years of healthy life lost among people aged 65 and over in 2022 – a 61 per cent increase since 2011.

Overall, looking at all of Australia, coronary heart disease remains the biggest drag on our health. But dementia isn’t far behind.

By the numbers

Figures from the AIHW show that dementia was responsible for 4.4 per cent of Australia’s disease burden in 2022.

This burden included 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 – and the leading cause of death in women. It accounted for 9.6 per cent of all deaths.

In 2022, 401,300 Australians were estimated to be living with dementia, a 4 per cent increase on the previous year.

On the upswing: The number of people with dementia in Australia is predicted to reach 849,300 by 2058. Photo: Getty

Based on AIHW estimates, this is equivalent to 15 people per 1000 Australians. This increases to 84 people with dementia per 1000 Australians aged 65 and over.

Nearly two-thirds of Australians with dementia are women. See why here.

The number of Australians living with dementia is expected to more than double to 849,300 in 2058. This represents 533,800 women and 315,500 men.

Behavioural and psychological symptoms

The update seeks to draw attention to the behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD).

BPSD refers to “a range of non-cognitive symptoms that are common among people living with the disease, including agitation, aggression, insomnia and anxiety”.

“While the deterioration of memory, language and cognition are hallmarks of dementia, the majority of people with dementia will also experience at least one type of BPSD as it progresses,” AIHW spokesperson Melanie Dunford said.

“BPSD can have a significant impact on people with dementia, carers and family, and has been associated 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).

The AIHW says that “further work is required to understand the full impact and causes of BPSD”.