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Rural–urban differences in the prevalence and characteristics of mild cognitive impairment in independent community‐dwelling older adults in Taiwan
Author(s) -
Chuang YiFang,
Liu YiChien,
Tseng HsinYi,
Chiu YenLing,
KuanChia Lin,
Shih MingHsiung
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1002/alz.041356
Subject(s) - medicine , dementia , epidemiology , gerontology , odds ratio , rural area , cohort , demography , neuropsychology , cohort study , cognition , disease , psychiatry , pathology , sociology
Background Taiwan is among one of rapidly aging countries and cognitive impairment increases exponentially with age among older adults. Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) bears an increased risk of developing dementia later and may represent an early disease stage that is amenable to preventive strategies. There is currently no epidemiological data about the prevalence of MCI in Taiwan. Method The data was from the baseline assessment of a community‐based prospective cohort study conducted in one rural and one urban areas of New Taipei City in Taiwan between 2017‐2019. Four hundred and seventy individuals aged 65 years and older, independently living in the community, were recruited and underwent a battery of neuropsychological tests assessing cognitive domains of attention, memory and executive function. Diagnosis of MCI was ascertained through an expert consensus panel based on 2011 NIA‐AA criteria. Result Mean age of participants was 71.1± 5.5 years. Participants from the rural area were older (72.6 vs. 70.6 years), had poorer education (5.5 vs. 8.7 years), higher body mass index (25. 9 vs. 24.6 kg/m 2 ), and higher percentage of hypertension (54.5 vs. 43.6%) The prevalence of MCI was 45/122 (36.6 %) in the rural area and 40/348 (11.5 %) in the urban areas, for a overall 85/470 (18.1 %). The rural area had a significantly higher prevalence of MCI (age‐ ,sex‐, and education‐adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 2.86, 95 % CI: 1.68–4.86) than the urban area. There was no differences in the distribution of subtypes of MCI in two areas. In the rural area, only poorer education was associated higher prevalence OR of MCI whereas in the urban area, being male, poorer education, and higher geriatric depressive scale were associated higher prevalence OR of MCI. Conclusion The prevalence of MCI was much higher in the rural area relative to the urban area. Different factors were associated with the prevalence of MCI in the rural and urban areas. This regional difference suggests preventive strategies or programs against cognitive impairment should be tailored and modified according to the urbanicity of an area.