Institution type-dependent high prevalence of dementia in long-term care units.
OBJECTIVE
It is estimated that there are 90,000 patients with dementia in the 23 million habitants of Taiwan, with a few institutions specialized in dementia care. To assess the need of institutional care for dementia, we investigated the institution prevalence of dementia.


METHODS
We performed stratified randomized sampling of elder residents from different types of institutions in different regions of Taiwan. A 2-stage survey with screening and clinical confirmation was carried out in 2004.


RESULTS
In total, 1,525 residents aged 65 years and over in 60 institutions participated in the study in which 1,308 elders completed the 2-stage survey. Among these, 631 elders were diagnosed as having dementia. The dementia prevalence was 26.8% in the residential houses, 61.8% in the assisted living facilities and 64.5% in the nursing homes. Vascular dementia was the leading cause of dementia in the institutions. Old age, diabetes mellitus and family history of dementia increased risks for both Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia.


CONCLUSIONS
The investigation showed that the prevalence of dementia in the long-term care units of Taiwan was much higher than those from community studies and the high prevalence in the institutions depended on the type of the long-term care unit.
Chen
Ta-Fu
TF
Department of Neurology, National Taiwan University Hospital, College of Medicine, Taiwan, ROC.
Chiu
Ming-Jang
MJ
Tang
Li-Yu
LY
Chiu
Yueh-Hsia
YH
Chang
Shu-Feng
SF
Su
Che-Long
CL
Chen
Shaw-Ji
SJ
Lin
Chung-Wei
CW
Shih
Wan-Yu
WY
Chen
Tony Hsiu-Hsi
TH
Chen
Rong-Chi
RC
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006707:Homes for the Aged / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007326:Institutionalization / Q000379:methods*; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology