A research group led by Associate Professor Teru Ohba of the Graduate School of Health Sciences, Hirosaki University investigated patients and their companions who attend university hospitals in Japan, and found that the prevalence of dementia was overestimated. I found out.
In the survey, the research group interviewed and analyzed the general perception of dementia and the intention of being diagnosed with dementia from patients who go to university hospitals in Japan and about 200 of their companions.
According to it, the most feared illness was cancer, followed by dementia.Compared to cancer, dementia was more worried about life problems, legal problems, and social impacts.
Regarding awareness of prevalence, 65% by the age of 18.1 and 85% by the age of 43.7 answered that they would have dementia.It was overestimated compared to the actual prevalence of 65% for 69-1.5 years and 85% for 27 years.
The percentage of those who said they wanted to get a diagnosis as soon as possible when they had dementia reached 95.9% for themselves, but decreased to 67.5% for their spouse.The reasons for not wanting to know the spouse's dementia are "I want to live as usual as possible" (75.5%) and "I want to avoid unnecessary worries" (73.6%).
Based on these findings, the research group points out that further awareness of dementia is needed, and helps doctors discuss the diagnosis of dementia with themselves and their families and mitigate the various psychological effects of the diagnosis. Should be.
Paper information:[BMC Health Services Research] Attitude toward dementia and preferences for diagnosis in Japanese health service consumers
