Epidemiological features of chronic and Alzheimer's diseases in the community-based elderly living in cities and counties in Hebei province

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To understand the epidemiological features of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in the community-based elderly living in cities and counties in Hebei province. Under the stratified random sampling method, Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) was used to evaluate senile dementia and Activity of Daily Living Scale (ADL) and to evaluate the daily lives of the elderly. Related dementia standard on the diagnose of AD and its subtypes was used. Statistically, data was analyzed through SPSS 13.0 software. The overall prevalence was 64.84% (2355/3632) on chronic diseases in those elderly who were over 60 years of age while AD appeared to be high and increased with age. The prevalence rate of dementia was 7.24% (263/3632), in which AD accounted for 4.87% (177/3632). Rates for other chronic diseases were as follows:hypertension (32.35%), diabetes (11.37%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (9.25%), coronary heart disease (8.84%) and stroke (7.16%). The prevalence of AD increased with age and was related to the low degree of education having. Elderly living in the communities of Hebei province showed high prevalent rates of chronic diseases including AD, which had become the major kind of diseases related to old age.