PREVALENCE AND SUBTYPES OF DEMENTIA IN TAIWAN - A COMMUNITY SURVEY OF5297 INDIVIDUALS

OBJECTIVE: To study the prevalence rate of dementia in Taiwan, the rel ative frequencies of its subtypes, and its associations with age, educ ation, gender, and residence location. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 2753 m en and 2544 women from four urban and four rural communities participa ted. Their age ranged from 41 to 88 years; 28% of them were at least 6 5 years old. Their education ranged from 0 to 20 years; 27% of them ha d less than 1 year of formal schooling. DESIGN: Phase I was a screenin g survey by trained nurses who administered a Chinese version of the M ini-Mental State Examination, the MMSE-T1, to all participants. Phase II involved the assessment for dementia by neurologists on the 1521 in dividuals who had scored less than 24 on the 30-point MMSE-T1. MAIN RE SULTS: Thirty-one cases of dementia were identified by the DSM-III-R c riteria, including 18 cases of Alzheimer's disease, 10 cases of vascul ar dementia, and three cases of other dementias. The prevalence rate i n individuals aged 65 and over was 2.0%. Aging and illiteracy were ass ociated with higher rates of dementia; gender and residence location m ade no difference. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence rate of dementia was lo w in this Chinese population. Consistent with common findings from oth er parts of the world, a high rate of dementia was associated with old er age and illiteracy, and Alzheimer's disease was the most frequent c ause.