The latest investigative report on dementia in Taiwan showed that the prevalence of the disease among those aged 65 and older stands at 7.99 percent, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) said.
Department of Long-Term Care deputy Director-General Wu Hsi-wen (吳希文) said late last month that the ministry launched the investigation because the nation would officially meet the definition of a hyper-aged society — one out of every five people aged 65 or older — as of this year.
The ministry took samples based on household registration data and doctors’ house-call information on elderly people nationwide between 2020 and last year.
The ministry said the newest results were similar to the findings from a Taiwan Alzheimer’s Disease Association study conducted in 2011.
The study showed that the prevalence of Alzheimer’s in people aged 65 to 69, 70 to 74, 75 to 79 and 80 to 84 was 2.4 percent, 5.16 percent, 9.1 percent, 16 percent and 23.23 percent respectively, showing a positive correlation between age and the chance of developing Alzheimer’s.
The most recent study showed that Alzheimer’s in women at 9.36 percent, which is higher than men’s 6.35 percent.
The study showed that the top three most common forms of dementia were Alzheimer’s disease at 56.88 percent, vascular dementia, which is caused when decreased blood flow damages brain tissue, at 22.91 percent and Parkinson’s disease, at 7.12 percent.
Wu said that the government estimated that about 350,000 people are registered as having dementia, adding that the nation could see 470,000 people with dementia by 2031 and 680,000 by 2041.
The study also investigated behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia, Wu said, adding that the most common was depression at 33.37 percent, fear or anxiety at 27.75 percent, repetitive behavior at 25.34 percent and delusion at 21.19 percent.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
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