Sociodemographic risk factors and correlates of dementia in older Malaysians.
OBJECTIVE
The rapid expansion of the aged population in Malaysia is expected to greatly increase the number of persons with dementia in the country. However, data on dementia prevalence at the national level is lacking, and little is known about the sociodemographic risk factors and correlates of dementia. This paper describes a nationwide study of dementia prevalence and its sociodemographic risk factors and health correlates among older Malaysians.


METHODS
In the nationwide study, the Mental Health and Quality of Life of Older Malaysians, AGECAT-GMS was used to diagnose dementia in a nationally representative sample of 2,980 persons aged 60 and above.


RESULTS
The prevalence rate of dementia was 14.3%. Higher dementia prevalences were found in oldest age (26.3%), women (19.7%), no formal education (24.1%), Bumiputeras (32.2%), unmarried (19.4%), unemployed (31.3%) and very poor on self-rated health (33.3%). Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that older age, female gender, no formal education, ethnicity and very poor self-rated health were independent risk factors and correlates of dementia.


CONCLUSIONS
Relatively higher prevalence rates of dementia in older Malaysians were accounted for by greater proportions without education, Malay and Bumiputera ethnicity, and other unknown factors which should be further investigated.
Institute of Gerontology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang Selangor, Malaysia. aizan@putra.upm.edu.my
Tengku Aizan
TA
Hamid
Saroja
S
Krishnaswamy
Siti Suhailah
SS
Abdullah
Yadollah Abolfathi
YA
Momtaz
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D044466:Asian People; D003704:Dementia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D004493:Education; D004651:Employment; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008296:Malaysia / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011788:Quality of Life; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014505:Urban Population