title: Epidemiological surveys of senile dementia in Japan.
abstract: Epidemiological surveys of senile dementia at home were carried out on 3,754 subjects for two consecutive years, 1987 and 1988. The prevalence and incidence rates were 4.1% and 1.01%, respectively. Concerning the incidence rate, the sample populations of previous reports were small in number--less than 1,000. If we suppose that the incidence were to be approximately 1%, then it follows that dementia would be noted yearly in no more than one out of 100 senile subjects. A difference in subject number leads to a great difference in the incidence. Therefore, it is necessary that the number of subjects should be more than 1,000 for a comprehensive epidemiological survey of incidence rate of senile dementia. Accordingly, the present study is a better representation of the true picture as it was obtained by a more accurate method accompanied by less errors.
authors.affiliation: Psychiatric Research Institute of Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fukunishi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hayabara
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hosokawa
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000453:epidemiology; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003704:Dementia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015161:Dementia, Multi-Infarct / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male