J Korean Med Sci.  2011 Sep;26(9):1219-1226. 10.3346/jkms.2011.26.9.1219.

Clinical Characteristics of a Nationwide Hospital-based Registry of Mild-to-Moderate Alzheimer's Disease Patients in Korea: A CREDOS (Clinical Research Center for Dementia of South Korea) Study

• Park HK
• Na DL
• Han SH
• Kim JY
• Cheong HK
• Kim SY
• Kim SY
• Hong CH
• Kim DK
• Ku BD
• Moon SY
• Lee JY
• Shim YS
• Youn YC
• Kim EJ
• Kim BC
• Park KH
• Cha KR
• Seo SW
• Lee JH

• KMID: 1779398
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2011.26.9.1219

Abstract

With rapid population aging, the socioeconomic burden caused by dementia care is snowballing. Although a few community-based studies of Alzheimer's disease (AD) have been performed in Korea, there has never been a nationwide hospital-based study thereof. We aimed to identify the demographics and clinical characteristics of mild-to-moderate AD patients from the Clinical Research Center for Dementia of Korea (CREDOS) registry. A total of 1,786 patients were consecutively included from September 2005 to June 2010. Each patient underwent comprehensive neurological examination, interview for caregivers, laboratory investigations, neuropsychological tests, and brain MRI. The mean age was 74.0 yr and the female percentage 67.0%. The mean period of education was 7.1 yr and the frequency of early-onset AD (< 65 yr old) was 18.8%. Among the vascular risk factors, hypertension (48.9%) and diabetes mellitus (22.3%) were the most frequent. The mean score of the Korean version of Mini-Mental State Examination (K-MMSE) was 19.2 and the mean sum of box scores of Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR-SB) 5.1. Based on the well-structured, nationwide, and hospital-based registry, this study provides the unique clinical characteristics of AD and emphasizes the importance of vascular factors in AD in Korea.

Keyword

Alzheimer's disease; Dementia; Multicenter study; Hospital-based study; Demography; Far East

MeSH Terms

Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Alzheimer Disease/complications/*diagnosis
Brain/radionuclide imaging
Caregivers
Dementia/diagnosis
Demography
Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/etiology
Female
Hospitals
Humans
Hypertension/etiology
Interviews as Topic
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Middle Aged
Questionnaires
*Registries
Republic of Korea
Risk Factors

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 The frequency of Neuropsychiatric Inventory items. Del, delusion; Hal, hallucination; Agt, agitation; Dep, depression; Anx, anxiety; Eup, euphoria; Apa, apathy; Dis, disinhibition; Irrit, irritability; Mot, aberrant motor behavior; Sle, sleep; App, appetite.

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