May 2026
Sobering data on motor neuron disease mortality in Australia
By Melanie Hinze
Motor neuron disease (MND) mortality in Australia has more than tripled over the past four decades, with the disease accounting for one in 234 Australian deaths in 2023, according to new research.
The population-based study, published in the Medical Journal of Australia, analysed all MND mortality and Australian population data from 1 January 1986 to 31 December 2023, obtained from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Annual MND deaths increased from 238 in 1986 to 781 in 2023, while MND as a proportion of all-cause deaths rose from 1 in 483 to 1 in 234 over the same period. After age standardisation, the overall age-adjusted mortality rate increased by 21% across the study period.
Men were 41% more likely to die from MND than women, and the highest number of deaths occurred in the 70- to 79-years age group. Potential years of life lost due to MND in 2023 were 4670 person-years, a 2025 person–years increase from 1986.
The researchers observed marked geographical variation. In 2019 to 2023, Tasmania recorded the highest state-based mortality rate at 4.12 per 100,000 population, followed by South Australia at 3.44 per 100,000. MND mortality rates were also significantly higher in inner and outer regional areas compared with major cities.
The authors suggested the pattern pointed to a potential role of environmental exposures, including possible links to agricultural chemicals, noting similar associations had been reported in studies from the USA, France and Italy. Because familial MND accounted for only about 10% of cases, the authors said the sustained increase was most likely attributable to sporadic MND driven by environmental factors.
Commenting on the findings, study coauthor Professor Dominic Rowe AM, Professor of Neurology at Macquarie Medical School, Sydney, said the data were unambiguous.
‘There is a 300% increase in the number of Australians dying from MND over the past 37 years,’ he said, adding, ‘MND now kills approximately 800 Australians each year, or two-thirds of the national road toll.’
He told Medicine Today that this research showed that living in Tasmania or anywhere in regional Australia was associated with a 40% greater chance of dying due to MND.
‘While some MND is genetic, this increase can only be caused by sporadic MND,’ he said.
Professor Rowe said that sporadic MND was an environmental disease and directed rural and regional GPs needing diagnostic assistance to the website https://thinkmnd.org.
The authors also called for a compulsory national MND registry to enable systematic investigation of geographical and environmental risk factors.