Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Mar 11;11(6):1554.
doi: 10.3390/jcm11061554.

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

Yi-Hui Kao  1   2   3 , Chih-Cheng Hsu  4   5   6   7 , Yuan-Han Yang  8   9   10   11
Affiliations

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

Yi-Hui Kao et al. J Clin Med. .

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: Alzheimer’s disease; aging; dementia; dementia prevalence; hypertension; institution; long-term care.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic flow diagram of the sample size.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Power M.C., Mormino E., Soldan A., James B.D., Yu L., Armstrong N.M., Bangen K.J., Delano-Wood L., Lamar M., Lim Y.Y. Combined neuropathological pathways account for age-related risk of dementia. Ann. Neurol. 2018;84:10–22. doi: 10.1002/ana.25246. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Liu H.C., Lin K.N., Teng E.L., Wang S.J., Fuh J.L., Guo N.W., Chou P., Hu H.H., Chiang B.N. Prevalence and subtypes of dementia in Taiwan: A community survey of 5297 individuals. J. Am. Geriatr. Soc. 1995;43:144–149. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1995.tb06379.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Seitz D., Purandare N., Conn D. Prevalence of psychiatric disorders among older adults in long-term care homes: A systematic review. Int. Psychogeriatr. 2010;22:1025–1039. doi: 10.1017/S1041610210000608. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Schaller S., Mauskopf J., Kriza C., Wahlster P., Kolominsky-Rabas P.L. The main cost drivers in dementia: A systematic review. Int. J. Geriatr. Psychiatry. 2015;30:111–129. doi: 10.1002/gps.4198. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Sado M., Ninomiya A., Shikimoto R., Ikeda B., Baba T., Yoshimura K., Mimura M. The estimated cost of dementia in Japan, the most aged society in the world. PLoS ONE. 2018;13:e0206508. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0206508. - DOI - PMC - PubMed