
Past Issues
Frequency of Early and Late-onset Dementias in a Taiwanese Dementia Clinic: First Report on the Lin-Shin Dementia Registry Project
Pai-Yi Chiu, Chun-Tang Tsai, Ping-Kun Chen, Yen-Liang Liu, Te-Jen Lai
Objectives: The frequency of dementia subtypes in Taiwan need to be resurveyed
in light of the increased awareness and recognition of non-Alzheimer type
dementias. Early- and late-onset dementias have not been compared among Taiwanese
patients with dementia. Methods: All patients participating in the Lin-
Shin dementia registry project were required to complete a structured interview
form every six months to record their basic data, clinical history, neuropsychological
tests, sleep quality, and neuropsychiatric symptoms. In the current study, basic
demographic characteristics of participants were summarized, and subtypes of dementia
were compared between early- and late-onset patients. Results: From February
1, 2009 to January 31, 2011, a total of 968 patients was investigated; 795
patients fulfi lled the criteria for dementia and 173 patients were not demented.
Among all the patients under study (n = 795), Alzheimer’s disease (AD, n = 378,
47.5%) was the most prevalent cause of dementia, followed by vascular dementia
(VaD, n = 151, 19.0%), Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB, n = 132, 16.6%), Parkinson’s
disease with dementia (PDD, n = 64, 8.1%), frontotemporal lobar degeneration
(FTLD, n = 33, 4.2%), normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH, n = 11,
1.4%), and other dementia/undetermined dementia (OD/UD, n = 26, 3.3%). More
than 60 percent of FTLD patients were early onset (< 65 years); on the other hand,
more than 80 percent of AD, VaD, DLB, PDD, and NPH were late onset (≥ 65
years). Conclusion: The frequency of AD, DLB, PDD, VaD in our subjects are
similar to the fi ndings in several Western countries; but the frequency of DLB is
higher than most of the recent clinical studies in Asian countries. The results of this
study remind clinicians of paying attention to the high frequency of non-AD degenerative
dementias and to the potential difference of treatment among patients
with AD and non-AD dementias.
Key Word | Alzheimer’s disease, Dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal lobar degeneration, vascular dementia |
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