With a rapidly aging society, geriatric mental health is emerging as important public health concern. Despite the short history of psychiatric epidemiology in Korea, recently, epidemiologic data regarding geriatric psychiatric problems has started to accumulate. In the current study, we reviewed epidemiological findings regarding geriatric mental health in Korea. It was found that up to 10% of the elderly suffer from dementia, and 10% to 20% from depressive disorder. Further, prevalence estimates of Alzheimer's disease ranged from 4.2% to 9.0%, and vascular dementia from 1.0% to 4.8%. Annual incidence rates for Alzheimer's were 2.7% to 3.4% whereas that for vascular dementia was found to be as low as 0.3%. The prevalence of major depressive disorder was 4.2% to 9.1%, while that of clinically significant depressive symptom was between 9.1% and 33.0%. Finally, those with alcohol use disorders were found to comprise up to 13.6% of elderly population and additionally, 22% to 58% of the elderly were found to have sleep difficulties. Thus major mental disorders are already prevalent among the Korean elderly and are likely to increase rapidly.
Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Alzheimer Disease/epidemiology ; Dementia/epidemiology ; Dementia, Vascular/epidemiology ; Depressive Disorder/epidemiology ; Humans ; Mental Disorders/*epidemiology ; Prevalence ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Risk Factors

With a rapidly aging society, geriatric mental health is emerging as important public health concern. Despite the short history of psychiatric epidemiology in Korea, recently, epidemiologic data regarding geriatric psychiatric problems has started to accumulate. In the current study, we reviewed epidemiological findings regarding geriatric mental health in Korea. It was found that up to 10% of the elderly suffer from dementia, and 10% to 20% from depressive disorder. Further, prevalence estimates of Alzheimer's disease ranged from 4.2% to 9.0%, and vascular dementia from 1.0% to 4.8%. Annual incidence rates for Alzheimer's were 2.7% to 3.4% whereas that for vascular dementia was found to be as low as 0.3%. The prevalence of major depressive disorder was 4.2% to 9.1%, while that of clinically significant depressive symptom was between 9.1% and 33.0%. Finally, those with alcohol use disorders were found to comprise up to 13.6% of elderly population and additionally, 22% to 58% of the elderly were found to have sleep difficulties. Thus major mental disorders are already prevalent among the Korean elderly and are likely to increase rapidly.
Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Alzheimer Disease/epidemiology ; Dementia/epidemiology ; Dementia, Vascular/epidemiology ; Depressive Disorder/epidemiology ; Humans ; Mental Disorders/*epidemiology ; Prevalence ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Risk Factors

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; China ; epidemiology ; Dementia, Vascular ; epidemiology ; ethnology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prevalence ; Stroke ; epidemiology ; ethnology

Through a systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiological studies on dementia, we assessed the prevalence of dementia and its subtypes-Alzheimer' disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD)-in Korea. We searched for epidemiological studies on dementia published in 1990-2013 using PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, KoreaMed, KISS, and RiCH. Dementia prevalence in elderly patients (aged> or =65 yr) was 9.2% (95% confidence interval [CI], 8.2%-10.4%) from 11 studies, which was higher than those from Western and other Asian countries. AD was the most prevalent dementia type, with a prevalence of 5.7% (95% CI, 5.0%-6.4%) from 10 studies compared with 2.1% (95% CI, 1.6%-2.7%) for VaD from 9 studies. The age-specific prevalence of dementia approximately doubled with each 5.8-yr increase of age. Although a significant increasing trend of dementia prevalence was not observed, it increased slightly from 7.3% to 8.7% after 2005; AD prevalence increased after 1995 and VaD prevalence decreased after the early 2000s. The AD/VaD ratio increased from 1.96 in the early 1990s to 4.13 in the 2010s, similar to the worldwide ratio. Owing to this high prevalence in the aging population, dementia will impose significant economic burdens to Korean society.
Age Factors ; Alzheimer Disease/epidemiology ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Databases, Factual ; Dementia/*epidemiology ; Dementia, Vascular/epidemiology ; Humans ; Prevalence ; Quality Assurance, Health Care ; Republic of Korea

The concept of vascular dementia is not still established. Its pathogenesis is not completely understood, either. It may be different among the subtypes, e.g., ischemic, hemorrhaginc, or Binswanger's disease. In this article epidemiology of vascular dementia was reviewed, based on the important findings regarding to prevalence, ethnic difference in prevalence, incidence, risk factors, and natural history and survival. We have to wait for more elegant concept of and better understanding of vascular dementia.
Cerebrovascular Disorders ; Dementia, Vascular* ; Epidemiology* ; Incidence ; Natural History ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors

Dementia as a public health problem looms as an epidemic of the 21st century. The aging population places an increasing number of individuals at risk for dementia. It is predicted that the proportion of the population over 65 years will exceed 14% by 2022 in Korea. This paper aims at summarizing epidemiologic characteristics of dementia in the general population in Korea, which are essential to develop a preventive strategy to this dreadful disease. The prevalence of dementia has been estimated in several studies in Korea and was found to be around 9.5 to 13.0% among individuals aged 65 years and over, which appears a little higher than those reported in other countries. According to the etiologic subtypes, more than half of the cases are reported to be Alzheimer's disease (AD) in most studies, especially in studies conducted in rural areas. These results are similar to those reported in the western countries, with AD being more common. In Asia, it was expected that vascular dementia would be much more common than AD due to the high prevalence of cerebrovascular accidents. Women have a much higher prevalence rate than men in all studies, presumably due to the higher prevalence of AD among the oldest aged 80 and over. These phenomena may be related with the high rate of illiteracy and low level of education among women in this country. Further epidemiologic studies on the subtype and risk factors of dementia are necessary to develop a comprehensive strategy for prevention of this disease in Korea.
Aging ; Alzheimer Disease ; Asia ; Dementia* ; Dementia, Vascular ; Education ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Epidemiology* ; Female ; Humans ; Korea* ; Literacy ; Male ; Prevalence ; Public Health ; Risk Factors ; Stroke

OBJECTIVETo study the predictive factors on mortality and survival of elderly dementia in Shanghai.

METHODSSubjects were from people who had been screened in a prevalence survey study from the selected 5 urban and 4 rural communities from 1997 to 1998. Phase I screening was carried out by a brief memory testing with mini-mental state examination. In phase II, those who scored below the cutoff points and 4% of those whose score was in the normal range were interviewed to identify dementia through a set of diagnostic examinations according to the DSM IV criteria. In phase III which was six months later, a follow-up program was conducted for all persons who were involved in phase II to identify those with Alzheimer's dementia (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD) according to NINCDS-ADRDA and NINDA-AIREN criteria and other types of dementia.

RESULTSThe mortality of elderly dementia was 6.06/1000 person-years. Compared to nondementia group, the survival rate of dementia group had a decrease of 57% after 40 months of follow-up (P < 0.05). There was no statistical difference between AD and VaD groups. The relative risk of death caused by dementia, AD and VaD were 1.63 (95% CI: 1.42-1.86), 1.71 (95% CI: 1.44-2.03) and 1.45 (95% CI: 1.16-1.82), respectively. Some factors such as age (RR = 1.0685), severalty (RR = 1.5733), and high ADL (RR = 1.0368) might have increased the risk of death among those patients.

CONCLUSIONThe mortality of elderly dementia in Shanghai was lower than that seen in other areas in the world. There was no obvious difference between the survival rates of AD and VaD patients. Age, severalty and high ADL seemed to be the risk factors to the death outcome.

Aged ; Alzheimer Disease ; mortality ; China ; epidemiology ; Dementia, Vascular ; mortality ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neuropsychological Tests ; Risk Factors