In JAMA Neurology, a team of European researchers established the global prevalence of young-onset dementia, as part of a systematic review.
Researchers probed 74 studies, with a total of nearly 2.8 million patients included, using databases such as PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, and PsycInfo.
Young-onset dementia is characterized as symptoms of dementia occurring before the age of 65, the baseline age range for late adulthood.
“Studies containing data on the prevalence of dementia in individuals younger than 65 years were screened by 2 researchers for inclusion in a systematic review and meta-analysis,” the JAMA report reads.
“In this systematic review, a total of 95 studies were included, of which 74 studies were included in the meta-analysis; the global age-standardized prevalence of young-onset dementia was 119.0 per 100,000 population aged 30 to 64 years. Estimates increased from 1.1 per 100,000 population aged 30 to 34 years to 77.4 per 100 000 population aged 60 to 64 years.”
The study found that the young-onset dementia prevalence was 119.0 per 100,000 population.
“These results should help policy makers organize sufficient health care for this subgroup of individuals with dementia,” the study concluded.
