Over 90% of dementia cases in China are undetected

A survey of 7,072 older adults in six provinces across China, with one rural and one urban community in each province, has identified 359 older adults with dementia and 328 with depression. There were only 26 participants who had doctor-diagnosed dementia reported and 26 who had doctor-diagnosed depression. Overall, 93% of dementia cases and 93% of depression were not detected.

Undetected dementia was strongly associated with low socioeconomic status such as a low educational and occupational class, and living in a rural area.

In comparison, research in high income countries has found that about 60% of older adults with dementia are not diagnosed, and generally there has not been a strong association between low socioeconomic status and undetected dementia. One factor in China’s high rate may be that most older Chinese live with their families, who may be inclined to see dementia as a normal part of aging.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-07/kcl-o9072413.php

 

New estimates of dementia in China

A new review of 89 studies, involving more than 340,000 participants in total, has estimated that 9.19 million people in China had dementia in 2010, of whom 5.69 million had Alzheimer’s disease. Previous studies appear to have considerably underestimated the true burden of dementia in China, largely due to limited data availability. However, this study examined a much wider range of data sources than earlier studies, including many Chinese-language reports.

Of the 340 247 participants, 6357 had Alzheimer's disease (1.87%). Of 254,367 assessed for other forms of dementia, 3543 (1.4%) had vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia, or Lewy body dementia.

Total dementia prevalence in 1990 was 1·8% at 65-69 years, and 42·1% at age 95-99 years; in 2010, prevalence had increased to 2·6% and 60·5%, respectively.

Prevalence was higher for women than men, but didn't differ significantly between urban and rural residents.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/l-mco060513.php

[3561] Chen, R., Hu Z., Chen R-L., Ma Y., Zhang D., & Wilson K.
(2013).  Determinants for undetected dementia and late-life depression.
The British Journal of Psychiatry. 203(3), 203 - 208.

[3559] Chan, K Y., Wang W., Wu J J., Liu L., Theodoratou E., Car J., et al.
(2013).  Epidemiology of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia in China, 1990–2010: a systematic review and analysis.
The Lancet. 381(9882), 2016 - 2023.

Related News

Mild cognitive impairment (

A large study using data from the famous Framingham Heart Study has compared changes in dementia onset over the last three decades. The study found that over time the age of onset has increased while the length of time spent with dementia has decreased.

Data from more than 17,000 healthy people aged 50 and over has revealed that the more regularly participants engaged with word puzzles, the better they performed on tasks assessing attention, reasoning and memory.

Unplanned hospitalizations accelerate cognitive decline in older adults

Data from the Rush Memory and Aging Project has found that emergency and urgent hospitalizations are associated with an increased rate of cognitive decline in older adults.

A Finnish study involving 338 older adults (average age 66) has found that greater muscle strength is associated with better cognitive function.

Data from over 11,500 participants in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) cohort has found evidence that orthostatic hypotension in middle age may increase the risk of cognitive impairment and dementia 20 years later.

A review of 39 studies investigating the effect of exercise on cognition in older adults (50+) confirms that physical exercise does indeed improve cognitive function in the over 50s, regardless of their cognitive status.

A Canadian study involving 40 older adults (59-81), none of whom were aware of any major memory problems, has found that those scoring below 26 on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) dementia screening test also showed shrinking of the anterolateral

A study involving 35 adults with

In Australia, it has beens estimated that 9% of people aged over 65, and 30% of those aged over 85 have dementia. However, these estimates are largely based on older data from other countries, or small local samples.

Pages

Subscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest health newsSubscribe to Latest news
Error | About memory

Error

The website encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later.