Despite recent studies suggesting a declining incidence and prevalence of dementia on a global scale, epidemiologic results with respect to Alzheimer's disease are lacking due to the methodological limitations inherent to conducting large-scale cohort investigations of this topic.
The aim of the current study was to investigate the incidence and prevalence of Alzheimer's disease in Korea.
The authors conducted a secondary analysis within the National Health Insurance System database, a unique resource that reports medical information for the entire Korean population.
Alzheimer's disease diagnoses as well as evaluations of vascular risks were defined based on International Statistical Classification of Diseases codes along with prescription records.
In this study, the incidence and prevalence of Alzheimer's disease in the Korean population aged 40 years or older showed an overall increase between 2006 and 2015.
Although both older and younger age groups showed an increase in the incidence and prevalence of Alzheimer's disease, the highest increase was observed in older age groups. Which is the inverse of the previous reports.
The average value for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease was found to be 69 years.
The incidence of Alzheimer's disease was higher in individuals with underlying vascular risks. However, in recent years, the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease was conversely found to be lower in individuals with hypertension or dyslipidemia.