The Consideration about Usefulness of Mass Screening for Dementia

Abstract

BACKGROUND: With the increasing elderly population in Korea, the number of dementia patients is estimated to reach nearly a million by 2027. To resolve this problem, centers for dementia were established in Korea since 2007 and mass screening for dementia proceeded in these center. This research was the analysis of the results of mass screening in Seongdong-gu center for dementia. METHODS: From July 2007 to December 2013, we registered 23,186 persons at Seongdong-gu center for dementia and all individuals were aged 60 and older. They classified the subjects into cognitive impairment group and normal group by Korean version Mini-Mental State Examination (K-MMSE). Next, the cognitive impairment group was assorted by Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease Korean version (CERAD-K) and the examination of two neurologists. We investigated the prevalence of dementia and the usefulness mass screening of dementia among that data. RESULTS: A total of 23,186 subjects were enrolled, of which 3,286 were cognitive impairment group, and 1,856 were diagnosed with dementia finally. The mean age was 77.1 years, 67% were female and the mean education level was 6.3 years. Disease incidence of dementia was lower year by year, but this went up when we focused the group who has high risk of dementia. Especially, the sharp decline was observed in complete enumeration dementia screening test about the specific age group. CONCLUSIONS: These results could suggest that we should focus on the group who has high risk of dementia in screening for dementia and it requires a more judicious approach.