Prevalence of Dementia and Its Subtypes in an Elderly Urban Korean Population: R

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Prevalence of Dementia and Its Subtypes in an Elderly Urban Korean

Population: Results from the Korean Longitudinal Study on Health and

Aging (KLoSHA).

Background/Aims: We estimated the prevalence of dementia and its

major subtypes in an elderly urban Korean population. Methods: A

study population of 1,118 Korean elders was randomly sampled from the

residents aged 65 years or older living in Seongnam, Korea.

Standardized face-to-face interviews, and neurological and physical

examinations were conducted on 714 respondents. Dementia was

diagnosed according to the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria, and its

subtypes were determined according to the criteria of the NINCDS-

ADRDA, the NINDS-AIREN, and the consensus guideline proposed by

Mc et al. [Neurology 1996;47:1113-1124]. Results: The estimated

age- and gender-standardized prevalences were 6.3% for dementia (95%

CI = 4.5-8.1), 4.8% for Alzheimer's disease (AD; 95% CI = 3.3-6.4),

1.0% for vascular dementia (VD; 95% CI = 0.3-1.8), and 0.4% for

dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB; 95% CI = 0.0-0.9). The prevalence of

AD consistently increased with age, whereas that of VD peaked at age

75-79 years and decreased thereafter. Of the dementia patients, 72.0%

were in the very mild or mild stages of the disease. Conclusions: The

prevalence of dementia in a typical urban area of Korea was estimated

to be 6.3%, and AD was the most prevalent subtype. DLB was less

prevalent than VD among these community-dwelling Korean elders.

Source:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18841012?dopt=Abstract