Is the Rise in Reported Dementia Mortality Real? Analysis of Multiple-Cause-of-Death Data for Australia and the United States.

ABSTRACT: Official statistics in Australia and the United States show large recent increases in dementia mortality rates. In this study, we assessed whether these trends are biased by an increasing tendency of medical certifiers (predominantly physicians) to report on the death certificate that dementia was a direct cause of death. Regression models of multiple-cause-of-death data in Australia (2006-2016) and the United States (2006-2017) were constructed to adjust dementia mortality rates for changes in death certification practices. Compared with official statistics, the recent increase in adjusted age-standardized dementia death rates was less than half as large in Australia and about two-thirds as large in the United States. Further adjustment for changes in reporting of dementia anywhere on the

SUBMITTER: Adair T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9247423 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature