It’s an attention-grabbing headline.

One-in-three seniors dies with – not of -dementia.

That’s the conclusion of a report released today by the Alzheimer’s Association in the United States.

The Association says even when dementia isn’t the direct cause of death it can be the final blow – speeding someone’s decline by interfering with their care for heart disease, cancer or other serious illnesses.

The report estimates that the 5.2 million Americans who have Alzheimer’s or some other form of dementia will jump to 13.8 million by 2050.

Those numbers are reflected in Canada.

According to 2011 figures from the Alzheimer Society of Canada, 15-per cent of Canadians age 65 or older have dementia.

The society estimates that by 2031 the 1.4 million Canadians will have the illness.

The report is published in this month’s Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.