Prevalence of Alzheimer's dementia and its risk factors in community-dwelling elderly koreans.
OBJECTIVE
We estimated the prevalence of Alzheimer's dementia (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and their risk factors in an urban community setting, focusing especially on metabolic syndrome.


METHODS
A two-phase investigation based on a door-to-door survey was performed. In Phase I, we administered the Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE-KC) of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's disease (CERAD-K). Assessment Packet and the Korean version of the Geriatric Depression Scales (GDS-K) to all 706 participants aged 65 years or older. In Phase II of the study, 175 persons underwent physical and neurological examinations according to the protocol of the CERAD-K clinical assessment battery [CERAD-K (C)] and the neuropsychological assessment battery [CERAD-K (N)]. We also examined the association between cognitive decline and metabolic syndrome. AD and MCI were defined using the DSM-IV-TR criteria and the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scales.


RESULTS
The mean age (+/-SD) of the subjects was 74.3+/-16.7 years and the ratio of males to females was 53.2 to 46.8. The prevalence of Alzheimer's dementia was 9.0%, while that of MCI was 32.9%. Old age and lower educational level had significant associations with cognitive decline in the elderly, but gender, years of alcohol intake or smoking, and metabolic syndrome were not associated with AD or MCI.


CONCLUSIONS
In this study, metabolic syndrome was not associated with Alzheimer's AD or MCI. Information regarding an association between Alzheimer's dementia and metabolic syndrome in this study will be helpful in formulating future public health policy and prevention strategies in Korea.
Choi
Seok-Ju
SJ
Department of Psychiatry, Dong Nam Mental Hospital, Gimhae, Korea.
Jung
Sung-Soo
SS
You
Young-Sun
YS
Shin
Bae-Seob
BS
Kim
Ji-Eun
JE
Yoon
Sung-Wook
SW
Jeon
Dong-Wook
DW
Baek
Jun-Hyung
JH
Park
Sung-Woo
SW
Lee
Jung-Goo
JG
Kim
Young-Hoon
YH