Dementia and flu cause rise in mortality rate, ONS figures suggest

According to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), a rise in the number of deaths in England and Wales in 2015 was due to an increase in dementia and respiratory diseased such as flu among older generations.

The statistics found that 2015 saw the largest rise in mortality in England and Wales in over a decade. The figures showed there were 529,613 deaths registered in England and Wales, a 5.6 per cent increase compared with 2014, with 86 per cent of extra deaths occurring in the over 75s.

Claudia Wells, of the ONS, said: "The majority of the increase in deaths in 2015 happened during the first few months of the year, coinciding with an increase in hospital admissions for flu and reports of numerous outbreaks of the virus in care homes.

"Respiratory diseases, such as flu, were also mentioned in a third of deaths from dementia and Alzheimer's last year."

Professor John Newton of Public Health England added: "A range of factors can push up the number of deaths in older people in a particular year. An outbreak of flu can have a big impact, especially on those who are most vulnerable or experiencing other illnesses, such as dementia.

However, he maintained: ”An increase in deaths will generally lead to a decrease in life expectancy that year, but we have seen these annual fluctuations before and the overall trend has remained positive. "