Coronavirus: 36% of Covid deaths in NI linked to dementia

Research shows that a third of people whose deaths are linked to Covid-19 in NI had a form of dementia.

This report by Nisra shows that dementia and Alzheimer's disease is the most common pre-existing condition among those who died

Meanwhile in Northern Ireland a further 21 coronavirus-related deaths were reported on Wednesday.

The Department of Health's death toll is now 1,240. There were also a further 787 cases of Covid-19 diagnosed.

There are 451 people with Covid-19 in hospital. Thirty one are in intensive care, with 22 on ventilators.

The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra) found that of 902 Covid-linked deaths that were registered between March and September, 327 (36.3%) patients had a form of dementia.

Pre-existing conditions

The next most common pre-existing conditions were hypertensive diseases (180) and diabetes (165 deaths).

There were no pre-existing conditions for 77 of the 902 Covid-19 related deaths (8.5%).

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The Nisra report said: "Dementia and Alzheimer's disease is by far the most common pre-existing condition, appearing in 36.3% of Covid-19 related deaths.

"This may not be surprising given that nearly half (44%) of Covid-19 related deaths up to end September were residents of care homes, and nearly two-thirds (65.5%) were aged 80 or over."

Separately, the number of Covid-related deaths registered in Northern Ireland has fallen slightly again in the latest weekly figures released by Nisra.

A total of 82 deaths were registered in the week up to Friday 18 December.

That is five fewer deaths than the previous week.

It brings Nisra's total of registered Covid-related deaths to 1,649 since the beginning of the pandemic.

Nisra's figures are based on mentions of the virus on death certificates, so people may or may not have previously tested positive for the virus.

The Department of Health's daily figures are based on a positive test result having been recorded.

Its comparative number of deaths for Friday 18 December was 1,180.

Of the 1,649 deaths recorded by Nisra, 1,002 were of people in hospital, including 147 people normally resident in care homes.

Taking that figure, and the 553 who died in care homes, it means care home residents account for just over two-fifths of all Covid-19 related deaths (41.8%).

Nine deaths were recorded by Nisra in hospices (0.6%) and 110 at residential addresses (7.0%).

People aged 75 and over account for just over two-thirds of all Covid-19 related registered deaths (65.3%) so far, according to Nisra.

Almost a quarter (24%) of all Covid-19-related registered deaths have been of people with an address in the Belfast council area.

The provisional number of all deaths for the week ending 18 December was 350.

That is 16 fewer than the previous week (366) and six more than the five-year average of 344.

Excess deaths are those above what would normally be expected at the time of year, averaged over five years.

Nisra found 1,905 excess deaths have been registered in the past 38 weeks.

The agency usually publishes weekly figures every Friday, but it has published the latest set of statistics ahead of Christmas.