Prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease and its related factors among elderly people in Hebei province

ObjectiveTo understand the distribution and epidemiological features of Alzheimer's disease(AD)and its related factors in community elderly persons in urban and rural areas of Hebei province.MethodsWith stratified random sampling method,a survey was conducted among persons aged 60 years or older in 6 urban communities and 7 rural villages in the cities of Tangshan,Shijiazhuang,and Handan.Mini Mental State Examination(MMSE)was used to evaluate senile dementia and Activities of Daily Life Scale(ADL)was used to evaluate ability of daily life of the elderly people.The diagnosis of AD and its subtype were determined based on related criteria.Uncoditional multivariate logistic regression was adopted in risk factor analysis.ResultsThe overall prevalence rate of dementia was 7.24% (263/3 632)and the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease was 4.87% (177/3 632),accounting for 67.3% of senile dementia.Age,bad marital status, poor,low education level,lowindividual and family income,living alone,and with family history of the disease were risk factors of AD.Active physical excercise was a protective factor of AD.ConclusionThe elderly in Hebei province had a higher prevalence of AD.Many factors affect the incident of AD and specific interventiion measures should be carnied out.