Trends in survival following dementia diagnosis: a multinational cohort study

Abstract This multinational cohort study examines the trends in relative mortality risk following dementia diagnosis in the UK, Germany, Finland, Canada (Ontario), New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. A common protocol was applied to population-based data of individuals aged 60+ with an incident dementia diagnosis recorded between 2000 and 2018. Data from 1,272,495 individuals showed that the standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) for dementia ranged from 1.27 (95% CI 1.27-1.28; UK) to 2.90 (2.87-2.93; New Zealand). Both adjusted SMRs and hazard ratios (HRs) estimated from Cox proportional hazard models declined consistently over the study period in the UK, Canada, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong, which accounted for 84% of all participants. This study found a steady trend of decreasing risk of mortality in five out of eight databases, which signals the potential positive effect of dementia plans and associated policies and provides reference for future policy evaluation.