Incidence trends of dementia in Czechia: A national registry‐based study over 15 years

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundThe number of people living with dementia in Czechia reached 156 thousand in 2015. According to estimates, prevalence of dementia is supposed to reach 250 thousand by year 2050, but little is known about current trends of dementia incidence. In our study we aimed to identify trends in age‐ and sex‐specific incidence of dementia in the Czechia between years 1999 and 2017.MethodTo assess changes in the incidence of dementia in Czechia we examined linked data about the entire Czech population aged 65 year and over from national healthcare registers (National Register of Hospitalized Patients, National Register of Paid Health Services, Register of Deaths). We traced dementia based on a combination of information about the clinical diagnosis (Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, unspecified dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, Parkinson’s disease with dementia, frontotemporal dementia) and use of drugs for dementia (Donepezil, Rivastigmine, Galantamine, Memantine). Incidence rates (calculated for both genders in strata of five years) were measured with survival analysis techniques using Poisson regression analysis, testing the calendar year as a time‐dependent covariate.ResultThere were 30587776 person‐years during the follow‐up. Total crude incidence rates per 10000 person‐years between years 1999 and 2017 were higher in women with 118,62 to 89,46 in men and steeply increasing with age. The crude yearly incidence was increasing for men and women during the entire follow‐up period with rapid decline in the last two years of the follow up. The age‐ and sex‐stratified results indicate different trends in age groups with age between 65‐79 year being relatively stable compared to older age groups.ConclusionOur results provide evidence that number of new patients diagnosed with dementia may be currently declining and this trend may continue in future.