Big rise in deaths related to dementia
ABNORMAL growths, such as cancer, were the cause of a third of deaths in Guernsey over the past three years, the latest Medical Officer of Health report has revealed.
Known as neoplasms in the report, they are the leading cause of death in the island.
This is followed by circulatory diseases, which caused a quarter of deaths, and respiratory diseases, which made up one in 10.
‘Overall, mortality in our population is dominated by deaths from non-infectious chronic conditions — a pattern typical for a high-income jurisdiction with well-developed healthcare services,’ the report stated.
‘When considering the increase of people dying with mental and behavioural disorders, it needs to be clear what conditions make up this group. These are dominated by cases of vascular and unspecified dementia, plus a small number of deaths from harmful use of alcohol and alcohol dependence syndrome.’
In terms of avoidable deaths – which covers illness that can be prevented or treated – 174 people (10%) had an underlying cause of Alzheimer’s or dementia. In 2002 it only made up about 4% of preventable deaths.
The report said that an increase in dementia deaths was expected in an ageing population.
‘This will challenge health and care services for years to come and planning to manage this increasing need is essential.’
Dr Nicola Brink, the MOH and director of Public Health, said it was important for Guernsey to look at the positive economic impact of healthy ageing.
‘An ageing population, with further increases likely in the coming years, has led to Guernsey, and many other countries, increasing the age at which a person may draw a States pension,’ she said.
‘Achieving this policy objective means that a sufficient number of islanders need to be able to continue working beyond 65.
‘A prerequisite for this is that they need to be sufficiently healthy to continue working in age-appropriate roles.’
There has been a rise in the number of suicides over the last 20 years, with an average of about five a year. Of the 104 deaths in that time, 74% of them involved males, with a peak for men aged 20-29.
‘The [upward trend of suicides] was apparent before the pandemic but increased further during it,’ the report stated.
