The Consideration about Usefulness of Mass Screening for Dementia

Annual Incidence of Dementia from 2003 to 2018 in Metropolitan Seoul, Korea: A Population-Based Study

National dementia plans were applied in dementia support centers established in Seoul, Korea between 2007 and 2009. However, the annual incidence rates of dementia in Seoul have not been reported. We investigated this annual incidence and the characteristics of incident cases from 2003 to 2018. The customized research database of the Korean National Health Insurance Services was used. The annual crude and age-standardized incidence of dementia patients and their characteristics were analyzed. This study analyzed 108,596 incident dementia cases aged ≥60 years. The incidence rate increased from 2003 to 2011, including a rapid increment from 2007 to 2011. From 2011 to 2018, the crude (age-standardized) incidence per 105 person-years decreased from 641.51 (577.12) to 448.26 (361.23). The proportion of incident dementia cases was highest in the highest income group every year. However, the proportion of incident dementia cases in the lowest income group increased from 10.4% in 2003 to 25.8% in 2011. The annual incidence rate of dementia showed a sharp increase immediately after 2007, the year dementia support centers began to be introduced, and then stabilized after 2011. The characteristics of incident dementia cases have changed, including the proportion in the low-income group.

Five-Year Community Management Rate for Dementia Patients: A Proposed Indicator for Dementia Policies

Background and Purpose

There is no specific indicator for monitoring dementia management. We propose an auxiliary indicator called the community management rate, defined as the proportion of dementia patients who receive informal care from close caregivers or themselves within their community population. The 5-year community management rate is the percentage of dementia patients who are receiving community management at 5 years after they were diagnosed. The aim of this study was to identify how the community management rate has changed over time and how the 5-year community management rate differs according to age, sex, income, residence area, and comorbidities.

Methods

We analyzed customized research database of the Korean National Health Insurance Services from 2003 to 2018. The 5-year community management rate was calculated annually with newly diagnosed dementia patients, and compared among subgroups according to age, sex, income, residence area, and comorbidities.

Results

This study analyzed 549,297 patients. Among those newly diagnosed with dementia in 2003, the mean duration of community management during the 15-year follow-up was 5.98 years. The community management rate decreased rapidly from 2003 to 2006, after which it increased. A low 5-year community management rate was associated with older age, higher comorbidity burden, nonmetropolitan residence, and low income.

Conclusions

The community management rate seems to reflect diverse patient factors. Efforts are needed to reduce the comorbidity burden and differences in the 5-year community management rate according to residence area and income. This study indicates the need for further investigations into the use of this indicator to monitor the management of dementia patients.

Validation of a New Screening Tool for Dementia: The Simple Observation Checklist for Activities of Daily Living

Background and Purpose

Screening tests for dementia such as the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment are widely used, but there are drawbacks to their efficient use. There remains a need for a brief and easy method of assessing the activities of daily living (ADL) that can be administered to elderly individuals by healthcare workers. We have therefore developed a new scale named the Simple Observation Checklist for Activities of Daily Living (SOC-ADL).

Methods

We developed the SOC-ADL scale as a team of experts engaged in caring for individuals with dementia. This scale comprises eight items and was designed based on the Korean instrumental activities of daily living (K-IADL) scale and the Barthel activities of daily living scale (Barthel Index). The new scale was validated by enrolling 176 patients with cognitive dysfunction across 6 centers. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were performed. We assessed its concurrent validity by performing comparisons with the Korean-MMSE, Clinical Dementia Rating, Clinical Dementia Rating-Sum of Boxes, K-IADL, and Barthel Index, and its criterion validity by performing comparisons between mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia. We also used Cronbach's alpha to assess the interitem reliability. The appropriate cutoff values were determined by analyzing receiver operating characteristic curves, including the areas underneath them.

Results

EFA extracted one factor and CFA revealed that all of the model fits exceeded the minimum acceptable criteria. The SOC-ADL scores were strongly correlated with those of the other tools for dementia and could be used to differentiate MCI from dementia. Cronbach's alpha values indicated that the results were reliable. The optimal cutoff value of the SOC-ADL for discriminating dementia from MCI was 3 points, which provided a sensitivity and specificity of 74.5% and 75.7%, respectively.

Conclusions

Our results demonstrate that the SOC-ADL is a valid and reliable tool for differentiating dementia from MCI based on an assessment of ADL. This new tool can be used for screening ADL in elderly subjects who have difficulty communicating, and to increase the efficiency of dementia screening at the population level.