Risk of dementia increases with age

More people here are developing dementia as the population ages, underscoring the need to beef up services for such patients.

One in 10 people aged 60 and above here has dementia, a three-year study on almost 5,000 patients and their caregivers by Institute of Mental Health (IMH) experts and other international investigators has found.

This finding of the $4.4 million Well-being of the Singapore Elderly study – funded by the Health Ministry and Singapore Millennium Foundation – was released yesterday. It points to the growing prevalence here of the progressive brain disorder, when compared to the findings of an older study done using a different method.

In the World Health Organisation ageing survey done in 1994 by Professor Kua Ee Heok, now a senior consultant at the National University Hospital (NUH), only 3 per cent of those aged 65 and older were diagnosed with dementia.

Most countries have a prevalence rate of 5 per cent to 8 per cent, but IMH researchers said these were measured using a less sensitive method – which excluded mild cases – than theirs.

Professor Chong Siow Ann, the vice-chairman of IMH’s medical board (research), who led the new study, said: “This is the most comprehensive, most rigorous study that we have done to date of this nature in Singapore. The concern is how we can use it to assess if we have adequate resources to meet the challenges now and those that will emerge.”

IMH experts attribute the rise in the prevalence of dementia to a rapidly ageing population and increasing rates of stroke, obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure – conditions that are risk factors for dementia.

Singapore has about 660,000 residents aged 60 and above, up from about 280,000 in 1994.

In 2012, about 28,000 people in this age group had dementia. The number is expected to soar to 80,000 by 2030.

Other factors such as education and employment were also associated with dementia.

People who were educated up to primary level are 3.6 times more likely to develop the disease than those with tertiary education, while the risk for housewives and retirees is at least 25 times higher than that for workers.

But the reasons are not known. People with dementia might be jobless because they have lost the ability to work, rather than unemployment being the cause of the disease, the researchers said.

Dementia patients may also have memory loss and difficulties in comprehension and expression.

Knowing its prevalence helps policymakers plan services, and raises awareness so people can recognise its symptoms and seek help early, IMH researchers said.

Dr Christopher Lien, director of community geriatrics at Changi General Hospital, said: “The numbers could have significant implications on the resources we put in to support such seniors, from ramping up facilities and training staff skilled in dementia care, to doing research that goes beyond the current alleviation of symptoms to prevention and cure.”

Prof Kua said previous studies and data from NUH’s memory clinic in the last 20 years show that only a fifth of all cases are detected. Many go undiagnosed as symptoms are often mistaken for poor memory or signs of old age.

Early diagnosis is important because it allows for treatment or intervention that may slow down the progression of the disease and reduce the burden on caregivers. – Asia One

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Category: Features, Health alert