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Article

A Nationwide Survey of Dementia Prevalence in Long-Term Care Facilities in Taiwan

by
Yi-Hui Kao
1,2,3,
Chih-Cheng Hsu
4,5,6,7,*,† and
Yuan-Han Yang
8,9,10,11,*,†
1
Department of Medical Education and Research, National Taiwan University Hospital Yun-Lin Branch, Douliu 640, Taiwan
2
Graduate Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei 100, Taiwan
3
Department of Neurology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei 100, Taiwan
4
National Center for Geriatrics and Welfare Research, National Health Research Institutes, Zhunan 350, Taiwan
5
Institute of Population Health Sciences, National Health Research Institutes, Zhunan 350, Taiwan
6
Department of Health Services Administration, China Medical University, Taichung 404, Taiwan
7
Department of Family Medicine, Min-Sheng General Hospital, Taoyuan 330, Taiwan
8
Department of Neurology, Kaohsiung Municipal Ta-Tung Hospital, Kaohsiung City 801, Taiwan
9
Department of Neurology, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung City 807, Taiwan
10
School of Post-Baccalaureate Medicine, Colleague of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung City 807, Taiwan
11
Neuroscience Research Center, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung City 807, Taiwan
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
These author contributed equally to this manuscript.
J. Clin. Med. 2022, 11(6), 1554; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm11061554
Submission received: 14 February 2022 / Revised: 4 March 2022 / Accepted: 8 March 2022 / Published: 11 March 2022
(This article belongs to the Topic Age-Related Neurodegenerative Diseases and Stroke)

Abstract

Background: As the average life expectancy of global citizens has increased, the prevalence of dementia has increased rapidly. The number of patients with dementia has increased by 6.7 times, reaching 300,000 in the past three decades in Taiwan. To realize the latest actual situation, the need for institutional care for elderly patients with dementia, and also a reference basis for government agencies to formulate dementia-related care policies, we investigated the institutional prevalence of dementia. Methods: We randomly sampled 299 out of the 1607 registered long-term care facilities including senior citizens’ institutions, nursing homes, and veteran homes in every administrative region of Taiwan. Then, a two-phase survey including MMSE screening, CDR, and clinical confirmation was conducted on each subject from 2019 to 2020. Results: Among 5753 enrolled subjects, 4765 from 266 facilities completed the examinations with a response rate of 82.8%. A total of 4150 subjects were diagnosed with dementia, 7.4% of whom had very mild dementia. The prevalence of all-cause dementia, including very mild dementia, was 87.1% in all facilities, 87.4% in senior citizens’ institutions, 87.1% in nursing homes, and 83.3% in veteran homes. Advanced age, low education, hypertension, Parkinsonism, respiratory disease, stroke, and intractable epilepsy were associated with dementia risk. Conclusions: We show that in an aged society, the prevalence of all-cause dementia in long-term care institutions can be as high as 87.1%. This study was completed before the outbreak of COVID-19 and provides a precious hallmark for future epidemiological research. We recommend that the long-term care policy in an aged society needs to take into account the increasing high prevalence of dementia in the institution.
Keywords: aging; Alzheimer’s disease; dementia; dementia prevalence; hypertension; institution; long-term care aging; Alzheimer’s disease; dementia; dementia prevalence; hypertension; institution; long-term care

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MDPI and ACS Style

Kao, Y.-H.; Hsu, C.-C.; Yang, Y.-H. A Nationwide Survey of Dementia Prevalence in Long-Term Care Facilities in Taiwan. J. Clin. Med. 2022, 11, 1554. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm11061554

AMA Style

Kao Y-H, Hsu C-C, Yang Y-H. A Nationwide Survey of Dementia Prevalence in Long-Term Care Facilities in Taiwan. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2022; 11(6):1554. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm11061554

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kao, Yi-Hui, Chih-Cheng Hsu, and Yuan-Han Yang. 2022. "A Nationwide Survey of Dementia Prevalence in Long-Term Care Facilities in Taiwan" Journal of Clinical Medicine 11, no. 6: 1554. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm11061554

APA Style

Kao, Y.-H., Hsu, C.-C., & Yang, Y.-H. (2022). A Nationwide Survey of Dementia Prevalence in Long-Term Care Facilities in Taiwan. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 11(6), 1554. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm11061554

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