Survival of ethnic Chinese with Alzheimer's disease: a 5-year longitudinal study in Taiwan.
Survival time and mortality risk factors in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) have been documented in Western countries, but comparable information on the ethnic Chinese is scarce. We consecutively recruited 159 AD patients and 145 control subjects from the Memory Clinic of Taipei Veterans General Hospital. After admission to the study, each subject received clinical, neuropsychological, and psychiatric evaluation and apolipoprotein E genotyping. Survival status was followed for 5 years. Forty-six AD patients (28.9%) and 3 control subjects (2.1%) died during the 5-year follow-up period. The mean survival time for AD patients was 4.48 years (SD = 0.1 years) after the time of enrollment. Among individuals with AD, those with severe disease, older patients, and those experiencing hallucinations were at greater risk for increased mortality. As expected, AD shortened life expectancy in these patients. The factors found to correlate with a shorter life span may suggest effective health care strategies for AD patients.
Tsai
Ping-Huang
PH
Department of Neurology, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taiwan.
Chen
Shih-Pin
SP
Lin
Ker-Neng
KN
Wang
Pei-Ning
PN
Wang
Hsiao-Chien
HC
Liu
Chia-Yih
CY
Hong
Chen-Jee
CJ
Liu
Hsiu-Chih
HC
D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000235:genetics / Q000401:mortality* / Q000523:psychology; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000235:genetics; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
D001057:Apolipoproteins E