Dementia is a syndrome of failure of knowledge function, together with changing of behavior and loss of social function. Dementia is common in the elderly. The prevalence of this disease increase clearly by age. Dementia may appear suddenly, but gradually develop, chronically as in Alzheimer. The aim of treatment for patients with dementia is to enhance the quality of life and maintain maximum functional activities through improving the knowledge, the emotion and the attitude
Dementia ; Aged ; epidemiology ; Age Factors

Biomedical Research ; China ; epidemiology ; Dementia ; epidemiology ; Humans

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

The study is designed as a systematic review on nonpharmacological interventions for patients with moderate to severe dementia. This review will be conducted in accordance with the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. The following databases will be searched: Cochrane CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, KoreaMED, KMbase, and KISS. The primary outcome will include the effect of the interventions on activities of daily living and behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia. The literature search will be conducted based on search strategies designed for each database. The reviewers will independently assess the identified studies and extract the data. The risk of bias will be assessed and a meta-analysis will be conducted in accordance with the methodology for meta-analysis described in the Cochrane handbook. This systematic review will provide clinicians and policy makers with reliable evidence for developing and implementing nonpharmacological interventions for moderate to severe patients with dementia.
Activities of Daily Living ; Administrative Personnel ; Bias (Epidemiology) ; Dementia* ; Humans

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

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

With the rapid aging of the population in Korea, the number of older people with dementia is projected to increase, forecasting an epidemic of dementia. Recent trends in dementia in several western countries, however, depict a gradual decline in prevalence and incidence. This decrease has been attributed to an improvement in education and living environments, engagement in healthy behaviors, and reduction in the prevalence of vascular risk factors. In Korea, however, trends in modifiable risk factors do not favor an optimistic outlook due to the continuous increase in the prevalence of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and obesity. Given these observations, there is much to be gained through the promotion of healthy lifestyles. Moreover, public health resources need to be directed toward the provision of health promotion and preventive services, control and management of vascular risk factors, and improvement in the standard of living. Nationwide initiatives to develop and implement policies and strategies to protect cognitive health throughout the lifespan should be considered a public health priority.
Cost of Illness ; Dementia/economics/*epidemiology/prevention & control ; Developed Countries ; Diabetes Mellitus/epidemiology ; Health Behavior ; Humans ; Hypertension/epidemiology ; Obesity/epidemiology ; Prevalence ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Risk Factors

OBJECTIVEThis study aimed to compare the prevalence of mental disorders and services for people with mental health problems in Shaoxing city between 1991 and 2001 in order to provide scientific bases for prevention and treatment.

METHODSA population size of 339 651 were investigated in the urban and rural areas with "Psychosis Index Investigate Schedule" plus visit to their homes.

RESULTSThe overall prevalence rates of mental disorders were 10.17 per thousand and 13.85 per thousand and the point prevalence rates of mental disorder were 9.15 per thousand and 12.77 per thousand, respectively in 1991 and 2001. The point prevalence rates in the population aged 15 years and above were 11.70 per thousand and 14.60 per thousand. Prevalence rates of neurosis and alcohol dependence and drug dependence increased significantly from 1991 and 2001. The anterior three mental disorders were neurosis, schizophrenia and dementia in all mental disorders. Situation was better in the city than in the rural areas in terms of receiving care for mental disorder, their work ability, economy condition and gardianship.

CONCLUSIONThere was an increase of prevalence on mental disorder in Shaoxing city during the ten-year period. The increase in the prevalence of mental disorder was related to local economy, socialization and culture.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; China ; epidemiology ; Dementia ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Mental Disorders ; epidemiology ; Mental Health Services ; organization & administration ; Middle Aged ; Prevalence ; Schizophrenia ; epidemiology ; Substance-Related Disorders ; epidemiology

Research articles are rapidly increasing in number of publications in the regular journals on geriatric psychiatry and it's allied fields since 1989. However, they were mainly on dementia, depression, epidemiology and neurocognitive functions. Widening of research areas, refinement of study methodology and multidisciplinary approach based on clinical data are needed. And of importance is submission to the popular foreign scientific journals listed in medical indexes, including the Current Contents, Excerpta Medica, Index Medicus, Medline, Psychological Abstracts, Science Citation Index, and Social Science Citation Index. In the case of home journals, a meticulous peer review system of manuscripts could improve the quality of research activities and of publications. All these activities would help us open a new horizon in the research into mental health problems in Korea.
Dementia ; Depression ; Epidemiology ; Geriatric Psychiatry ; Korea ; MEDLINE ; Mental Health ; Peer Review ; Social Sciences