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Table 2 Prevalence of diabetes, visual impairment and stroke in people with dementia

From: Comorbidity and dementia: a scoping review of the literature

Study and country

Study type

Dementia/CI

Control/comparison

Eligibility criteria

Recruited from

Number whole sample

Number dementia/CI

Diabetes (%)

Stroke (%)

VI (%)

Notes

Barnett [26] UK (Scotland)

Cross-sectional

Dementia

NA

Alive, permanently registered with a participating practice

Primary care -national dataset

1751841

11139

13.3

18.8

3.8

VI is blindness/low vision

Doraiswamy [2]

Cross-sectional

Dementia

NA

Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, 50 or over

Community health care sites

679

679

-

-

-

61% had three or more comorbidities, 30% had vascular or heart disease. Sample included mixture of community dwelling and long-term care

Feil [36] USA

Longitudinal cross sectional

CI

No CI

Geographically defined, 65 and over

Population derived sample

7482

1774

26

34

-

 

Heun [46] UK

Retrospective case control

Dementia

No dementia

Diagnosis of AD, 70+, in-patient care for at least 24 hours

Hospital in-patients

72878

634

6

3

1

VI is glaucoma. Diagnosis of diabetes less common in those with AD than controls RR 0.7 (95% CI 0.5 to 0.9). No significant difference in prevalence of ischemic stroke RR 1.3 95% CI 0.9 to 2.0, or glaucoma RR 2.0 (1.0 to 4.3)

Jara [82] UK

Retrospective cohort

Dementia

No dementia

64 and over, at least 24 months continuous enrolment, no cataract diagnosis at baseline

Primary care -national dataset

650325

8124

-

-

-

Lower rate of any cataract in AD group compared to controls HR 0.52 (95% CI 0.47 to 0.58)

Löppönen [55] Finland

Cross-sectional

Dementia

NA

Geographically defined, 65 and over

Population based

1260

112

16

24

29

PWD less likely to be diagnosed with glaucoma OR 0.36; 95% CI 0.15 to 0.86), no difference in rates of cataract p =0.287

Lyketsos [56] USA

Case-control

Dementia/CI

No dementia/CI

Geographically defined, 65 and over

Population based

695

374

20

16

-

Stroke more common in people with dementia p <0.001

McCormick [58] USA

Case-control

Dementia/CI

No dementia/CI

Aged 60 and over, members of HMO, geographically defined

Population derived (from HMO database)

154

154

6

3a

10

Visual problems less common in PWD (10% versus 24%)

Rait [64] UK

Cohort

Dementia

No dementia

60 and over with first code for dementia during study period, at least six months data

Primary care - national dataset

135174

22529

14

29a

-

No difference in prevalence of diabetes (13.9% versus 14.5%) but cerebrovascular disease more common in people with dementia (29.3% versus 13.3%)

Sakurai [65] Japan

Cross sectional

Dementia

NA

Dementia or MCI

Memory clinic

160

160

19

-

-

Dementia and CI

Schubert [5] USA

Cross-sectional

Dementia

No dementia

65 and older, seen primary care physician within two years. Excluded nursing home residents, non-English speaking

Primary care

3013

107

39

10

-

No significant difference in prevalence of DM (P =0.19) or stroke (P =0.89) between those with and without dementia

Stephan [72] UK

Cross-sectional

MCI

No MCI

65 and over

Population based

13004

1486

7

19

-

 

Uhlmann[75] USA

Case control

Dementia

No dementia

65 and over, English speaking, eighth-grade or higher education, ability to complete audiometric evaluation

Adult medicine clinic

174

87

not given

not given

-

Prevalence of VI significantly higher in cases than controls (OR 2 95% CI 1.2-3.4).

Zamrini [80] USA

Case control

Dementia

NA

Probable AD, black or white (white participants matched non randomly to black participants)

Memory clinic database

334

334

18

9

10

Includes all eye diseases

Zekry [81] Switzerland

Cohort

Dementia

No dementia

75 and over. Excluded: terminal illness, disorders interfering with psychometric assessment

Hospital in-patients

349

188

19

22

-

MCI + dementia

  1. aCerebrovascular disease; - = not given. CI, cognitive impairment; MCI, mild cognitive impairment; PWD, people with dementia; VI, visual impairment.