Characteristics and diagnostic profile of patients seeking dementia care in a memory clinic in Hong Kong.

Background: Seeking medical advice for dementia involves an understanding of norms, values and attitudes towards care-giving and inter-dependency, which are culturally bounded. We hypothesize that local culture and socioeconomic structure affect our Chinese patients who present with forgetfulness to our memory clinic.

Methods: A retrospective case notes review was undertaken on 454 consecutive patients referred to the memory clinic at Princess Margaret Hospital, Hong Kong.

Results: 385 patients were diagnosed with dementia and 27 had mild cognitive impairment. Reversible dementia was identified in 24 patients and normal cognition in 18. In patients with dementia, 55.8% had Alzheimer's disease, 26.2% had vascular dementia, 6.0% had other irreversible dementia, 5.2% had dementia with Lewy bodies, 4.9% had undetermined dementia and 1.8% had frontotemporal dementia. The median duration from symptom onset to medical consultation was two years; 66.5% had advanced disease with initial Mini-mental State Examination scores < or = 17. On their first visit, 85% of patients were living in the community; after two years this proportion had fallen to 63%.

Conclusions: Dementia patients in Hong Kong apparently enjoy a long subclinical period and only seek medical attention at late stages. Local Chinese culture and socioeconomic backgrounds could be the main reasons that underlie these observations.