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.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
Snow fell on Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山) yesterday morning as a continental cold air mass sent temperatures below freezing on Taiwan’s tallest peak, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Snowflakes were seen on Yushan’s north peak from 6:28am to 6:38am, but they did not fully cover the ground and no accumulation was recorded, the CWA said. As of 7:42am, the lowest temperature recorded across Taiwan was minus-5.5°C at Yushan’s Fengkou observatory and minus-4.7°C at the Yushan observatory, CWA data showed. On Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, a low of 1.3°C was recorded at 6:39pm, when ice pellets fell at Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), a
RSS