People developing dementia before age 65 shot up 3.6 times

The number of patients with ‘early-onset dementia,’ which occurs before reaching the elderly, has increased 3.6 times in 10 years, a new study suggests.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's National Institute of Health on Wednesday, the number of patients with early-onset dementia increased from 17,772 in 2009 to 63,231 in 2019, which represents an increase of about 3.6 times in the 10-year period.

Dementia is commonly known to affect people aged 65 and older, but as of 2021, early-onset dementia patients accounted for 8 percent of all dementia patients in Korea. Early-onset Alzheimer's disease, also known as ‘early-onset dementia,’ occurs between the late 40s and early 60s.

Early-onset dementia tends to progress faster than senile dementia, which occurs in people 65 and older. It is also characterized by a variety of symptoms such as memory loss, speech impairment, and movement disorders that occur in no particular order, unlike senile dementia, which is characterized by memory loss followed by mobility and personality disorders.

The onset of dementia at relatively early ages also increases the likelihood that patients or their dependents will face financial hardship due to career interruption. "There is no scientifically confirmed cause for the increase in early-onset dementia," said Koh Yeong-ho, head of the brain disease research division at KDCA. "We have only begun research to analyze the cause."

If you suspect you have dementia, it is important to detect and treat it early. This is because treatment can slow down the progression of the disease if treatment is started before symptoms become more pronounced. If you suspect that you or a loved one may have dementia, you can take a free simple screening test at public health centers nationwide to determine your risk, and then undergo a more sophisticated diagnosis such as a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan or Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery (SNSB) at a hospital or clinic's mental health department.

The National Institute of Health has been conducting a cohort study of patients with early-onset dementia based on a network of 31 hospitals nationwide since 2021. With the study, the institute also announced additional results that identified a gene that causes early-onset dementia during World Brain Week in the third week of March. The researchers found previously unidentified pathogenic variants in patients with difficulty understanding individual words, connecting words and objects, and remembering them. They also announced research findings that genetic variants commonly found in Westerners were extremely rare in Korean patients.


박경민 기자 mean@donga.com