Trends in mortality from Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and dementia, England and Wales, 1979-2004.

In this article we present trends in mortality from Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and dementia in England and Wales from 1979 to 2004. We describe the impact of mortality coding changes on the underlying cause of death, particularly the introduction of ICD-10 in 2001. We present rates for all mentions of the conditions on death certificates to interpret trends better. Mortality rates for the three conditions showed varying trends over the time period examined. Between 1985 and 2004, Alzheimer's disease showed a dramatic increase. Trends in mentions of dementia differed between males and females, with rates being relatively stable among males, but increasing among females. Rates for Parkinson's disease declined over this period.