Abstract
Aim: Although there are many reports regarding the status of memory clinics in Japan, most are from the clinical departments of psychiatry or neurology, and there are few from the geriatric outpatient clinics. This study aimed to review the status of the memory clinic at the geriatric outpatient unit of a university hospital and also to compare the results with other reports.
Methods: Patient records of the memory clinic at the geriatric outpatient unit of the Nagoya University Hospital between January 2000 and June 2006, which included clinical information and neuropsychological profiles were extensively reviewed for statistical analyses. Of the patients who first visited the memory clinic between January 2004 and June 2006, prior written consent are obtained from 232 outpatients, among which 223 individuals who had intact sets of data were subjected to detailed analyses.
Results: During the period investigated, we had a total of 778 visits by 577 patients. The characteristics of patients were: age: 74.5±8.3 years; MMSE: 23.8±4.7; education year: 10.7±2.9. Clinical profiles of the patients who visited during the most recent 2.5 years were as follow: cognitively normal, 8.1%; dementia of Alzheimer's type, 45.3%; vascular type, 5.4%; mixed type, 2.2%; frontotemporal dementia, 3.1%; mild cognitive impairment, 15.7%, and others.
Conclusion: Compared with previous reports from other institutions, we observed that the visitors to our geriatric memory clinic had a relatively higher educational background with earlier stages of dementing disorders, which also included pre-clinical cognitive impairment.
