How old is your brain? Take the dementia test
Dementia has overtaken heart disease as the leading cause of death in England and Wales
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Dementia is now the main cause of death in England and Wales, according to new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Last year, more than 61,000 people died of dementia in the UK – 11.6 per cent of all recorded deaths for that period.
Dementia – an umbrella term that includes Alzheimer's Disease – is now responsible for more deaths in Britain than heart disease.
Article continues belowThe Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"Due to improvements in treatment, diagnosis and awareness, the mortality rates for the other top five leading causes of death – including heart disease – have fallen since 2001," says The Guardian, while the ONS suggests the increase in reported dementia-related deaths can be causally linked to better diagnoses rates of the disease.
It also says the ageing population is responsible for the increase.
Heart disease remained the leading cause of death for men in 2015, though overall numbers were higher for dementia. However, if all cancers were listed as one disease, it would be top of the list by a considerable margin.
Hilary Evans of Alzheimer's Research UK said: "These figures once again call attention to the uncomfortable reality that currently, no one survives a diagnosis of dementia."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
A 25-question test developed by Dr Vincent Fortanasce, a clinical professor of neurology, is intended to give respondents a sense of their brain age, and help them understand whether they could do more to improve their mental fitness.
The test is included in full below. Note: this test should be considered a guide only. If you have any concerns, visit your GP.