title: Primary caregivers' awareness and perception of early-onset dementia conditions in adolescents and young and middle-aged adults with Down syndrome.
abstract: The present study aims to investigate the onset of dementia conditions using the Dementia Screening Questionnaire for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities (DSQIID) scale and to identify the possible factors associated with DSQIID scores in people with Down syndrome (DS). The study population was recruited from the voluntary registry members of the Republic of China Foundation for Persons with Down syndrome; primary caregivers provided DSQIID information on 196 adolescents and adults with DS (aged 15-48 years) who were entered into the database and analyzed using SPSS 20.0 software. The results described the distribution of early-onset dementia conditions in 53 adolescents and adults with DS, and 2.6% of the subjects with DS had possible dementia (DSQIID score ≧ 20). Univariate analyses found that older age (p=0.001) and comorbid conditions (p=0.003) were significantly associated with DSQIID scores. Older subjects were more likely to have higher DSQIID scores than were younger age groups after ANOVA and Scheffe's tests. Lastly, a multiple linear regression analysis revealed that age (p<0.01), severe disability level (p<0.05) and comorbid condition (p<0.01) significantly explained 13% of the variation in DSQIID scores after adjusting for the factors of gender, education level and multiple disabilities in adolescents and adults with DS. The study highlights that future research should focus on the occurrence of dementia in people with DS and on identifying its influencing factors based on sound measurements, to initiate appropriate healthy aging policies for this group of people.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan; Center for Environment and Population Health, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia; Chung-Hua Foundation for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Jin-Ding
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Wen-Xiu
authors.initials: WX
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Healthcare Administration, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan; Department of Public Health, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Shang-Wei
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Lan-Ping
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Fu-Gong
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Early Childhood, National Pingtung University of Education, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chi-Chieh
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Center for Environment and Population Health, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.
authors.forename: Jia-Ling
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Center for Environment and Population Health, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.
authors.forename: Cordia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: trishow@mail.ndmctsgh.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Yu-Ching
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Chou
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017028:Caregivers; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003704:Dementia / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000451:nursing*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013624:Taiwan; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Aging; DSQIID; Dementia; Dementia scale; Down syndrome