Epidemiological investigation and risk factor analysis of senile dementia and cognitive disorder in veteran cadres in Northwest China

    SONG Feng, LIU Jiª²Lin, GAO Hu, ZHAO Zhiª²Hua

    Institute of Geriatrics, Lanzhou General Hospital, Lanzhou Military Area Command, Lanzhou 730050, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To investigate the prevalence rate and risk factors of senile dementia and cognitive disorder in the veteran cadres in northwest area in China. METHODS: Among the 18 820 veteran cadres from 46 cadres¬ð sanatoriums in northwest area, 3047 subjects of over 60 years old were investigated in their disease history and current physical status and diagnosed by the neuropsychological physicians. The assessment was carried out twice by Hasegawa¬ð s dementia scale (HDS) and Clinical Memory Scale, respectively. RESULTS: The prevalence rate was 0.7% in dementia, 1.5% in preª²dementia, 21.4% in mild abnormality, and the total prevalence rate was 23.6%. The dominant risk factors included female, eld, cerebral atrophy and infarction, no tea addiction, coronary heart disease, hypertension and low education level. CONCLUSION: The prevalence rate of senile dementia and cognitive disorder is higher in the northwest area than that in any other areas. The 8 risk factors exert important influence on the prevalence rate. The comprehensive intervention aiming the elderly in the preª²dementia or with mild disorder would help to improve the whole living quality of military veteran cadres. ......