Release notice – Dementia and Stroke Comorbidity among Canadians aged 65 years and older: Highlights from the Canadian Chronic Disease Surveillance System

The Public Health Agency of Canada is pleased to announce the release of Dementia and Stroke Comorbidity among Canadians aged 65 years and older: Highlights from the Canadian Chronic Disease Surveillance System in celebration of World Alzheimer’s Day.

Dementia and stroke are common, debilitating, chronic conditions that pose significant health challenges, especially among older individuals (65+ years). The risk of developing these conditions, either separately or together (i.e. comorbidity), increases with age.

This publication describes the prevalence and mortality (all-cause) patterns of comorbid dementia and stroke among Canadians aged 65+ in 2016–2017 using data from the Canadian Chronic Disease Surveillance System (CCDSS). The CCDSS identifies chronic disease cases in provincial/territorial administrative health databases linked to provincial/territorial health insurance registries.

Highlights

• About 1.8% (110 000) of Canadians aged 65+ had comorbid dementia and stroke, while 5.1% (322 000) were living with dementia (without a stroke) and 7.8% (492 000) had a stroke (without dementia).
• Crude prevalence of this comorbidityincreased with age, from 0.2% in individuals aged 65–69 to 8.9% in those aged 90+. Crude prevalence of dementia and stroke comorbidity was greater in males until 90 years of age, where crude prevalence was greater in women (9.1%) than men (8.3%).
• All-cause mortality among Canadians aged 65+ with comorbidity was 6.9 times greater compared to those without this comorbidity.

View the latest surveillance data on dementia and stroke, independently.