Investigation Of Cognitive Impairement In The Neurology Outpatient Department

Background and Objective Dementia, now the fourth fatal disease following heart attack, cancer and stroke, is very common among the elders and it severely threatens their health and heavily burdens the society and family. It has been reported that there are 5-7million dementia patients in China, and the number is still rising yearly. However, little is known about this huge population. The study aims to define the prevalence rate of cognitive impairment and its various causes among neurological outpatients.Methods From Sep.10,2009 to Dec.25,2009, we prospectively interviewed neurological outpatients who met either one of the following criteria:1) age≥55years old; 2) memory problem or cognitive impairment as the complaint; 3) previous cerebral vascular disease, with cognitive rating scales IQCODE, MMSE and CDR in sequence, and finally made a diagnosis on the level of cognitive impairment and its causes.Results Among the more than 10 thousand outpatients,74patients had impaired cognitive function, of which,26 were diagnosed MCI and 48 dementia. Among the dementia patients. AD outnumbered VD, however, among the MCI patients,VD-MCI outnumbered AD-MCI. Of the 74 patients.only 9 came to the doctor for cognitive problem, the rate is 12.1%. More female patients were screened to have AD than male ones,while more male patients had VD than females. Of the dementia patients, mild to moderate patients dominated.Conclusion AD and VD, the main causes of cognitive impairment, now are poorly known by the public, so it is very urgent for the society and neurology doctors to improve the propagation of the common knowledge and prophylaxis among the public and to identify MCI, particularly VD-MCI as early as possible in order to delay its progression.