The Sydney Morning Herald | Dementia to topple heart disease as leading cause of death: ABS data The Sydney Morning Herald The death rate from dementia, which includes Alzheimer's disease and affects the brain, has risen from 28.6 to 40.1 deaths per 100,000 people in 2006 in 2015. It overtook stroke as the second leading cause of death in 2013, and has continued to rise in ... Suicide rate hits 10-year high and dementia poised to become leading cause of death Australia's leading causes of death in 2015 |