Between 2004 and 2019, dementia (caused by, among other things, Alzheimer's disease) has gradually become one of the leading causes of death in Belgium. This is what emerges from new analysis by the Sciensano Health Institute. This rise in dementia is mainly due to the fact that deaths caused by cardiovascular diseases, by far the main cause of death in Belgium from a historical point of view, are decreasing year by year. Sciensano analysed the death certificates collected by the statistical office Statbel and classified all deaths according to 130 unique causes of death. The detailed analyses allowed comparisons to be made regarding year, age, gender and province.
In 2019, the last year for which these estimates were made, coronary heart disease and dementia were the leading causes of death in Belgium. Each was responsible for about 9% of all deaths. Stroke and lung cancer took third and fourth place, each with a share of about 7% of all deaths. This ranking is very different from that of 2004, when coronary heart disease and stroke still accounted for 15% and 10% of all deaths respectively, and dementia for only 5%. "The gradual rise of dementia, but especially the sharp decline in cardiovascular diseases as a cause of death, and recently the limited decline in the number of deaths due to lung cancer, means that dementia is becoming the leading cause of death in Belgium," explains Brecht Devleesschauwer, epidemiologist at Sciensano.
However, the national figures hide a number of important differences between men and women. Among men, coronary heart disease and lung cancer still lead the way, with a share of 10 and 9% of all deaths respectively. Only 6% of men die of dementia. In women, on the other hand, dementia has already been the leading cause of death since 2013. In 2019, almost 12% of all deaths in women were due to dementia, compared to 8% due to coronary heart disease and stroke. Among women in particular, deaths from lung cancer are also on the rise. You can read the full details of this study (in French), here:
https://www.sciensano.be/fr/coin-presse/la-demence-devient-la-principale-cause-de-deces-en-belgique