National action plan on dementia needed, new figures reveal

A new report estimated there are 411,000 Aussies living with dementia – with that number expected to double in the next three decades.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) released it latest report detailing the reality of dementia in Australia on Friday, stating that of the 242,000 people living in permanent residential aged care nationwide in 2021–22, more than half (54 per cent) had dementia.

The report showed the condition was the leading cause of death in Australia after coronary heart disease, accounting for 9.3 per cent of deaths and the leading cause of death for women and Australians aged over 65 years in 2022.

The report found 688,000 dementia medication prescriptions were dispensed to about 72,400 Australians aged over 30 in 2022-23 – an increase of 46 per cent from just over 472,000 scripts in 2012-13 – and as the rates of dementia continue to increase in the coming years, so too will the number of dementia medications and hospitalisations.

AIHW spokesperson Melanie Dunford said dementia was a significant and growing health and aged care issue in Australia, with substantial impacts on the health and quality of life of people with the condition, as well as their family and friends.

“There is currently no cure for dementia, but there are strategies to manage symptoms that can assist in maintaining independence and quality of life,” she said.

Ms Dunford said while the likelihood of developing dementia increased with age, it is not an inevitable or normal part of the ageing process.

However, as Australia’s population ages there is likely to be more people living with dementia, and a greater number of people who rely on public health services.

AIHW estimated that almost $3.7 billion of health and aged care spending in 2020–21 was directly attributable to the diagnosis, treatment and care of people with dementia.

Dementia Australia director David Sykes said the report highlighted the scale of the issue in Australia and he voiced concerns that we as a nation are still not giving the second leading cause of death in the nation the awareness and funding it demands.

“We have 411,000 Australians living with dementia, that will double in the next 30 years, and we do not have a national plan,” he said.

“We [Dementia Australia] are advocating and supporting the government’s work at the moment in developing a national dementia action plan, which would provide vision and direction around policy settings, funding and support for people living with dementia.

“It would also provide the system and processes around that so people can get timely diagnosis and the support they need.”

University of Western Australia professor of geriatric medicine Leon Flicker said a national plan is needed to improve diagnostic resources and lift the support services people living with dementia received.

Professor Flicker said the national health system requires improvements so that people who were hospitalised with dementia were better cared for as well.

“We just need to make sure we reorganise our services so people with dementia are more appropriately treated and managed by our health services and health system,” he said.

Professor Flicker attributes Australia's current population imbalance to a post-WW2 increase to migration and baby boom and said our systems will need to adapt to accomodate more people living with dementia as Australians continue to live longer and longer.

“The median age of somebody with dementia in Australia is 82-years old, so the biggest risk factor by a long way is growing old,” he said.

“Because people are not dying of other things at younger ages there are going to be more people who are older and are at risk of dementia.

“It is not a good thing to have dementia, but a lot of people are reaching this age, and that is not a bad thing either.”

Professor Flicker said there was scientific uncertainty around what people could do to prevent developing dementia, and the risk factors of dementia were also risk factors for other conditions like heart disease and cancer.

“We should be trying to prevent those things as much as possible, because that is a good thing anyway, but that means more people grow old if they do not die from heart disease or strokes, so more people will die from dementia.

“It is a complicated issue and it is a good thing to try and prevent it by keeping physically and mentally active, not smoking and trying to avoid high blood pressure and diabetes.

“All these things are good things.”

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