title: General public perceptions and attitudes toward Alzheimer's disease from five cities in China.
abstract: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia affecting the aged population worldwide, yet its social perceptions have been less studied. To investigate the perceptions and attitudes toward AD in the Chinese population, a cross-sectional face-to-face survey of 2,000 randomly selected adults was conducted in five representative cities of China. This survey focused on the fear of AD, and the relationship between this variable and each studied factor was analyzed using univariate analysis and multivariate regression analysis. In general, 76.6% of the total respondents had personal fear of developing AD, and such fear was closely related to the proximity to AD and perceived severity of AD, as well as other factors such as gender and self-perceived health. The results strongly suggested that more attention should be paid to public health education of AD, which can only be achieved with the cooperation of government, media, medical institutions, and the community so as to eliminate people's confusion about AD, relieve their psychological burden, and optimize their health-seeking behavior.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Teaching and Science, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China Department of Neurology, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Fan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Teaching and Science, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China 201 Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Dalian, China.
authors.forename: Wan-Ting
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Yan-Jiang
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The General Hospital of Lanzhou Military Command, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Hong-Bo
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The General Hospital of Lanzhou Military Command, Lanzhou, China.
authors.forename: Xiang-Qun
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The General Hospital of Guangzhou Military Command, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Hai-Qiang
authors.initials: HQ
authors.lastname: Zou
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, Kunming Medical University, Kunming, China.
authors.forename: Yue-Qing
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, College of Preventive Medicine, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Ya-Fei
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing Education, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Shao-Rong
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Teaching and Science, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lian
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003469:Culture; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D063508:Social Discrimination / Q000523:psychology; D012938:Social Perception; D014505:Urban Population; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Alzheimer's disease; China; attitude; fear; perception