The Prevalence of Dementia in Patients with Hansen's Disease in a Sanatorium of Korea.

OBJECTIVES: To identify prevalence of dementia and it's subtypes in patients with Hansen's disease in a sanatorium of Korea. METHODS: The study employs a two-stage design for case identification. One hundred-six patients with Hansen's disease aged 65 and over participated in the study. The Korean Version of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's disease (CERAD-K) assessment packet was administered to One hundred-two patients with Hansen's disease. Dementia was defined using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition diagnostic features of dementia. RESULTS: The prevalence was 15.1% in Hansen's sanatorium. The prevalence of Alzheimer's and vascular dementia were 10.4% and 4.7%. The age-adjusted prevalence rate for dementia was 11.9%. The rate of patients with dementia was 12.73% in males and 17.65% in females. CONCLSION: The prevalence of dementia in Hansen's disease sanatorium of Korea appears to be similar with those reported in previous study. Our result suggests that Hansen's disease was unrelated to prevalence of dementia, and also that the dementia is major neuropsychiatric disease in patient with Hansen's disease.