Prevalence of severe dementia in Finland.
A sample of 8,000 subjects to represent the population of Finland aged 30 years and over was used to identify patients with severe dementia; 141 cases were found. The prevalence of all types of severe dementia was 1.8% in the whole study population and 6.7% in the population aged 65 years and over. The prevalence increased with advancing age to 17.3% in the age group 85 years and over. Primary degenerative dementia constituted 50% of all cases; multi-infarct and combined dementia, 39%; and secondary dementia, 11%. Fifty-seven percent of the patients lived in institutions.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003704:Dementia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012107:Research Design