Abstract
To determine the prevalence and subtypes of dementia in southern Taiwan, a two-phase
study consisting of a phase I screening survey using the Mini-Mental Status Examination
(MMSE) and a phase II diagnostic examination using the CERAD neuropsychological battery
and the neurobehavioral examination was conducted. According to the household records,
stratified random sampling by the degree of urbanization of the community was used,
and 2915 inhabitants aged 65 and over participated in this study. The ICD-10NA criteria
for dementia, NINCDS-ADRDA guidelines for Alzheimer's disease (AD), and NINDS-AIREN
criteria for vascular dementia (VaD) were employed. Three hundred and ninety-eight
persons who had MMSE scores below the cutoff values were recruited into the phase
II study, of whom 108 had dementia. The prevalence rate (PR) of dementia was 3.7%,
increasing from 1.3% in people 65–69 years old to 16.5% in people 85 years old and
older. The age-standardized PR (ASPR) was 4.0%. AD (58 cases, 53.7%, PR=2.0%, ASPR=2.3%)
was the most common cause of dementia, followed by VaD (25 cases, 23.1%, PR=0.9%,
ASPR=0.9%), and mixed dementia (eight cases, 7.4%). After adjusting for age, sex and
education using logistic regression analysis, aging was a significant risk factor
for AD, VaD and total dementia. Female sex and illiteracy were significant risk factors
for AD only. We concluded that the prevalence of dementia in Taiwan is lower than
in the developed countries, which could be due to a relatively young elderly population
and a high mortality from dementia in Taiwan. AD is the leading cause of dementia
in Taiwan. Considering the high stroke prevalence, the relatively lower prevalence
of VaD in Taiwan deserves further investigation.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
May 22,
1998
Received in revised form:
May 20,
1998
Received:
August 22,
1997
Identification
Copyright
© 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
