Trends in the first‐time hospitalisation with dementia: national registry‐based study between 1999 and 2015 from the Czech Republic

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundThe number of people living with dementia in Czechia reached 156 thousand in 2015 with dementia in the Czech Republic with the burden of 44.7 billion Czech koruna. 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 first‐time hospitalisation with dementia in the Czechia between years 1999 and 2015.MethodData from two national registers in the Czech Republic were used: National Register of Hospitalized Patients and Register of Deaths. Complementary data about population structure per age and calendar year from the Czech Statistical Office for recalculation of the total sample were used. Descriptive analysis was performed to obtain crude and age standardized incidence rates of first‐time hospitalization due to dementia diagnosis. Poisson regression was performed in order to adjust for the calendar year and overall changes in hospitalisation over the study period. In secondary analysis we followed with age stratified crude and sex adjusted models that have been used to estimate the hazard ratio whether a person would receive a hospital diagnosis of dementia per 1 calendar year increase.ResultThe sample consisted of 3 324 399 people (65‐99 years, 57% women). The total amount of first‐time hospitalisations with dementia 164 741. Since 1999 the annual number of new cases increased from 5 433 in 1999 to 14 125 in 2015. The total age‐standardised incidence trends increased statistically significantly over time from 41,80/10 000 in 1999 to 71,30/10 000 in 2015, with a trend of stabilisation in the last three years of the study period. Gender differences have been observed with women having higher incidence rates. Most prominent changes were observed in the oldest 90‐99 age strata.ConclusionOur results provide evidence that number of new patients diagnosed with dementia may be currently stabilising and this trend may continue in future.