News: Dementia deaths are underestimated, study finds

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Neurology found that the percentage of deaths attributable to dementia was higher than recorded on death certificates.

The study sample was 7,342 adults aged 70-99 years who were interviewed directly or by proxy. Dementia and cognitive impairment without dementia (CIND) were identified at baseline using Health and Retirement self- or proxy-reported cognitive measures. Results were compared with information on cause of death from death certificates.

The study found that an estimated 13.6% of deaths in the sample were attributable to dementia. In contract, the proportion of deaths with dementia as an underlying cause listed on death certificates was only 5.0%. According to the study’s authors, the underlying case of death recording on death certificates underestimates dementia’s contribution to mortality rates by a factor of 2.7.

Incorporating deaths attributable to CIND lead to an even greater gap, meaning that the study suggests the mortality burden associated with dementia and CIND is significantly underestimated.

Editor’s note: The full JAMA Neurology study can be found here. To learn how CDI professionals can ensure that dementia and other psychiatric conditions are documented appropriately, check out this article from the January/February edition of the CDI Journal.