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P3‐604: DEVELOPMENT OF AN ISRAELI NATIONAL DEMENTIA DATABASE
Author(s) -
Sternberg Shelley A.,
Zucker Inbar,
Lutzki Miriam,
Lemberger John,
Cohen Aaron,
Rasooly Iris,
Shohat Tamy
Publication year - 2018
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 - 10.1016/j.jalz.2018.06.1971
Subject(s) - dementia , medicine , population , gerontology , family medicine , disease , socioeconomic status , vascular dementia , environmental health , pathology
Background:The National Program to Address Alzheimer’s Disease and other Dementias in Israel has been led by theMinistry of Health, Division of Geriatrics and its partners, since 2013. Among these partners are the four health fundswhich providemedical services, as stipulated by law, to all citizens and permanent residents of Israel including medications, and primary and specialist care. In order to plan services, national data were needed on people with dementia including prevalence, demographic and health characteristics and service use. Methods: The Geriatric Division and the Israel Center for Disease Control collaborated with the four health funds to develop a national dementia survey using electronic medical record databases. Dementia case definition was based on a dementia diagnosis or the purchase of dementia medications. The population base was all people insured by the health funds aged 45 and over at the end of 2016. Results: The prevalence of dementia was 6.6% for people 65 and over (1.5% in 65-74, 8% in 75-84, 25% in 85+). The prevalence of dementia over age 60 standardized to the population of western Europe (6.8%) and the USA (5.7%) was lower in Israel at 4.9%. Of identified dementia cases, 36% were identified by diagnosis only, 19% by purchasing dementia medications, and 45% by both criteria, and 64% overall received dementia medications. Of identified dementia diagnoses, 57.2% were Alzheimer’s, 7.5% were vascular, 20.8% were non-specific and 14.6% were other. People with a lower socioeconomic status were underrepresented in the survey compared to the national average (8.3% vs 16%) and were less likely to purchase dementia medications. Conclusions:This national dementia survey, including all citizens and permanent residents of Israel, demonstrated a lower standardized prevalence of dementia than many otherWestern countries. Possible reasons might be underdiagnosis, lack of public and professional awareness, and diagnoses being made in the private rather than public system without information transfer. Future plans are to explore health services use by cross referencing encrypted personal identifiers with other national databases. This survey will provide the basis for a national dementia database that will help shape future policy for dementia.