Regular Research ArticlesDiagnostic Criteria Influence Dementia Prevalence
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Sample
The study sample was derived from the Prospective Population Study of Women (PPSW) and from the H70 Birth Cohort Study in Gothenburg, Sweden. Both samples were obtained from the Swedish Population Register, based on birth date, and included both persons living in private households and in institutions.
The PPSW had its baseline examination in 1968–69 on a representative sample of 1,467 women born in 1908, 1914, 1918, 1922, and 1930.16., 17. The participants were reexamined in 1974–75, 1980–81,
Prevalence of Dementia
The prevalence of symptoms used to make a diagnosis of dementia according to the different criteria is given in Table 1. The most frequent symptoms found were “decline in other cognitive abilities characterized by deterioration in judgment and thinking, such as planning and organizing” as defined by ICD-10 (28.1%), and “disturbance in executive functioning” as defined by DSM–IV. Other symptoms such as “coarsening of social behavior” or “emotional lability” were rare.
A total of 132 participants
DISCUSSION
In this population-based study, the prevalence of dementia varied widely depending on the diagnostic classification system used. These results are in agreement with other studies.5., 6., 7. Overall, there was only a weak overlap between the dementia cases identified by the different classification systems.
Possible sources of error must be taken into consideration. First, the attrition rate was relatively high. Participants had a slightly higher survival rate and were more often women, compared
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This work was supported by the Alzheimer's Association (Stephanie B. Overstreet Scholars IIRG-00-2159, Zenith Award ZEN-01-3151), the Swedish Research Council (11267), and the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research (2835, 0234, 2646).