title: Survival of Alzheimer's disease patients in Korea.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The natural history of Alzheimer's disease (AD) has rarely been studied in the Korean population. Our study on survival analyses in Korean AD patients potentially provides a basis for cross-cultural comparisons.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied 724 consecutive patients from a memory disorder clinic in a tertiary hospital in Seoul, who were diagnosed as having AD between April 1995 and December 2005. Deaths were identified by the Statistics Korea database. The Kaplan-Meier method was used for survival analysis, and a Cox proportional hazard model was used to assess factors related to patient survival.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall median survival from the onset of first symptoms and from the time of diagnosis was 12.6 years (95% confidence interval 11.7-13.4) and 9.3 years (95% confidence interval 8.7-9.9), respectively. The age of onset, male gender, history of diabetes mellitus, lower Mini-Mental State Examination score, and higher Clinical Dementia Rating score were negatively associated with survival. There was a reversal of risk of AD between early-onset and later-onset AD, 9.1 years after onset.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of our study show a different pattern of survival compared to those studies carried out with western AD populations. Mortality risk of early-onset AD varied depending on the duration of follow-up.
authors: Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors: Seok Min
authors: SM
authors: Go
authors: Kang Soo
authors: KS
authors: Lee
authors: Sang Won
authors: SW
authors: Seo
authors: Juhee
authors: J
authors: Chin
authors: Sue J
authors: SJ
authors: Kang
authors: So Young
authors: SY
authors: Moon
authors: Duk L
authors: DL
authors: Na
authors: Hae-Kwan
authors: HK
authors: Cheong
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000208:ethnology / Q000401:mortality*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D014798:Vital Statistics