The prevalence of dementia in older people in an urban population of Korea: the Seoul study.
OBJECTIVE
To estimate prevalence of dementia and its subtypes in older people in Seoul, a metropolitan area of Korea, and compare these findings with estimates reported for other populations.


METHODS
The study employed a two-stage design for case identification. Initially, the Mini-Mental State Examination in the Korean version (MMSE-KC) of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD) assessment packet was administered to all participants. Two hundred seventeen persons sampled from three levels of performance on MMSE-KC underwent the second-stage clinical evaluation based on the Korean Version of the CERAD assessment packet.


METHODS
The study was conducted in an urban community setting.


METHODS
Six hundred forty-three persons aged 65 and over participated in the study.


METHODS
Dementia was defined using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition diagnostic features of dementia.


RESULTS
Dementia prevalence ranged from 2.6% in persons aged 65 to 69 to 32.6% in persons aged 85 and older. Age-standardized prevalence was 8.2% for dementia, 5.4% for Alzheimer's disease, and 2.0% for vascular dementia. The prevalence estimates, which excluded very mild cases (clinical dementia rating index 0.5), were approximately 5.3% for dementia and 4.3% for Alzheimer's disease.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of dementia in older people in Seoul appears to be somewhat lower than in rural areas of Korea. Considering the difficulties involved in establishing a diagnostic threshold for dementia, actual differences in dementia prevalence between Asian populations are probably minimal.
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Kyunggi Provincial Hospital for the Elderly, Yongin, Kyunggi-do, Korea.
Dong Young
DY
Lee
Jung Hie
JH
Lee
Young-Su
YS
Ju
Kang Uk
KU
Lee
Ki Woong
KW
Kim
Jin Hyeong
JH
Jhoo
Jong Choul
JC
Yoon
Jin
J
Ha
Jong Inn
JI
Woo
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D014505:Urban Population