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Background: The relationship between the subtypes of psychotic experiences (PEs) and common mental health symptoms remains unclear. The current study aims to establish the 12-month prevalence of PEs in a representative sample of community-dwelling Chinese population in Hong Kong and explore the relationship of types of PEs and common mental health symptoms., Method: This is a population-based two-phase household survey of Chinese population in Hong Kong aged 16-75 (N = 5719) conducted between 2010 and 2013 and a 2-year follow-up study of PEs positive subjects (N = 152). PEs were measured with Psychosis Screening Questionnaire (PSQ) and subjects who endorsed any item on the PSQ without a clinical diagnosis of psychotic disorder were considered as PE-positive. Types of PEs were characterized using a number of PEs (single v. multiple) and latent class analysis. All PE-positive subjects were assessed with common mental health symptoms and suicidal ideations at baseline and 2-year follow-up. PE status was also assessed at 2-year follow-up., Results: The 12-month prevalence of PEs in Hong Kong was 2.7% with 21.1% had multiple PEs. Three latent classes of PEs were identified: hallucination, paranoia and mixed. Multiple PEs and hallucination latent class of PEs were associated with higher levels of common mental health symptoms. PE persistent rate at 2-year follow-up was 15.1%. Multiple PEs was associated with poorer mental health at 2-year follow-up., Conclusions: Results highlighted the transient and heterogeneous nature of PEs, and that multiple PEs and hallucination subtype of PEs may be specific indices of poorer common mental health.

Background: Loneliness is a significant public health concern among older adults (OA) given its association with a wide range of adverse health outcomes. Primary care is an opportune setting to manage loneliness. However, the epidemiology of loneliness in Chinese OA treated in primary care remains unclear. The present study investigated the prevalence and correlates of loneliness in OA treated in Chinese primary care., Methods: A total of 744 OA patients (65+ years) were consecutively recruited from 13 primary care clinics in Wuhan, China, and interviewed with a standardized questionnaire, concerning sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle, relationships with family and others, physical health, and sensory impairments. Consistent with prior research on the construct, loneliness was measured with a single-item self-report question. Logistic regression was used to identify correlates of loneliness., Results: Of primary care OA patients, 26.2% endorsed loneliness. Factors significantly and independently associated with loneliness included 75+ age group (odds ratio [OR]: 1.61, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.07, 2.44, P: 0.023), being illiterate (OR: 2.07, 95%CI: 1.26, 3.42, P: 0.004), unmarried (OR: 2.30, 95%CI: 1.40, 3.78, P: 0.001), living alone (OR: 4.37, 95%CI: 2.27, 8.41, P < 0.001), having fair and poor family (OR: 2.44, 95%CI: 1.48, 4.00, P < 0.001) and non-family relationships (OR: 1.75, 95%CI: 1.10, 2.78, P: 0.019), and ≥2 chronic medical conditions (OR: 2.91, 95%CI: 1.22, 6.95, P: 0.016)., Conclusions: Loneliness is common in Chinese primary care OA. The high prevalence and many negative health consequences of loneliness for OA highlight the importance of routine screening, assessment, and interventions to reduce loneliness in the primary health-care setting., (© 2018 Japanese Psychogeriatric Society.)

Neural precursor cell expressed, developmentally down-regulated (NEDD9) gene was a new candidate risk gene for Alzheimer disease (AD). The CC genotype of a single nucleotide polymorphism rs760678 within this gene was associated with increasing risk of AD in a large study with white population. Our study aimed to replicate the initial report in Chinese population and explore its effect on cognitive performance. A total of 262 patients with AD, 293 patients with mild cognitive impairment, and 434 cognitive intact controls were recruited in the study. The result showed that G allele had a greater risk of AD (χ for trend test=5.61, df 1, P=0.018). The effects were mainly observed among Apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 noncarriers (χ for trend test=4.30, df 1, P=0.038). After adjustment of sex, age, education year, and APOE ε4 status by logistic regression, significant association between NEDD9 GG genotype and AD remained [OR=2.04, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.02-4.08, P=0.044]. The scores of Cantonese version of the Mini-mental State Examination and Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Subscale-Cognitive subscale were associated with N polymorphism after adjusting for sex, age, education year, and ApoE ε4 status (Linear regression model, P<0.05). Our study identified rs760678 within NEDD9 gene in association with the risk of AD and cognitive performance in Chinese older persons. The fact that different alleles accounted for the risk in different population might suggest that there were ethnic group specific haplotypes that were primarily responsible for the predisposition., ((C) 2012 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.)

Objective: This study examines the association between late-life leisure activity participation and global cognitive decline in community-dwelling elderly Chinese in Hong Kong., Methods: Five hundred and five participants, not clinically demented at the baseline, were analysed in the follow-up study of a population-based community survey among Hong Kong Chinese aged 60 and over. Information regarding leisure activity participation, global cognitive function and important sociodemographic variables was collected. Late life leisure activity profiles were classified into intellectual, social, physical and recreational categories, and were measured by total hours per week, total frequency and total number of subtypes. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the association between leisure activity participation at the baseline and the incidence of global cognitive decline at the 22-month follow-up. The incidence of global cognitive decline was defined as a one-point drop in z-score of the Cantonese version of the mini-mental state examination (CMMSE)., Results: At the follow-up, a higher level of participation in intellectual activities was significantly associated with a lower incidence of global cognitive decline as measured by both the total hours per week (multivariate-adjusted OR 0.97 (95% CI 0.94-0.99, p=0.003)), and the total number of subtypes (multivariate-adjusted OR 0.74 (95% CI 0.58-0.95, p=0.018))., Conclusions: A higher level of late-life intellectual activity participation was associated with less global cognitive decline among community-dwelling elderly Chinese in Hong Kong., (Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Objectives: To estimate the point prevalence and correlates of neuropsychiatric (NP) symptoms among older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and normal cognition (NC) in a Chinese community., Design: Cross-sectional study derived from a population-based prevalence study of MCI and dementia., Setting and Participants: This survey was conducted in Hong Kong from 2005 to 2006. Seven hundred eighty-eight community-dwelling older adults (450 NC and 338 MCI) were recruited. Cognitive and NP data were obtained., Results: The point prevalence of at least one NP symptom in NC and MCI were 29% and 36.7%, respectively (logistic regression controlled for age and education, odds ratio = 1.38, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.01-1.89, Wald χ = 4.10, df = 1, p = 0.04). Agitation (1.8% versus 5.1%), apathy (7.6% versus 15.2%), and irritability (4.2% versus 8%) were more prevalent in subjects with MCI (p <0.05). Logistic regression analyses showed that apathy score was a significant factor associated with the status of NC or MCI (logistic regression, apathy, p = 0.031, Exp(B) = 1.23, 95% CI: 1.02-1.47; Hosmer and Lemeshow test, χ = 8.6, df = 8, p = 0.38, R = 0.23)., Conclusions: The authors reported the findings of one of the first population-based studies estimating the point prevalence of NP symptoms in Asian older adults with MCI. Taking into account of its prevalence and magnitude of effects, apathy is a clinically significant symptom in MCI. Its predictive value for conversion to dementia warrants further evaluation.

Introduction: The applicability of category verbal fluency test (VFT) as a screening test for Alzheimer's disease (AD) in the Chinese population was studied., Methods: VFTs with categories of 'animal', 'fruit' and 'vegetable' were administrated to 72 subjects with AD and 81 aged-matched, community-dwelling, non-demented elderly (NC) in Hong Kong., Results: A significant difference in VFT scores between NC and AD groups was found (t-test, p < 0.05). CMMSE scores were significantly correlated with VFT performances in both subject groups. The correlation of combined VFT scores with age and educational level was significant only in the NC group (Pearson correlation, p < 0.05). At a cut-off score of 24/25, the sensitivity and specificity of the VFT in screening of dementia were 86.8 and 93.4% for subjects with no formal education. For literate subjects, an optimal cut-off score of 31/32 was identified across different educational levels., Conclusion: Although VFT performance was influenced by demographic factors like age and education, cognitive function was the most determining factor. With easy administration and satisfactory sensitivity and specificity, VFT is a useful and quick clinical screening test for AD in Chinese elderly., (Copyright 2004 S. Karger AG, Basel)

Over the past few years, a number of genetic risk factors for Alzheimer's disease (AD) have been proposed. IL-1beta gene polymorphism such as IL-1beta-511 and IL-1beta+3953 have been reported to be associated with the risk of AD in a number of studies in a Caucasian population. However, conflicting results have been reported recently which showed that IL-1beta was not universally associated with the risk of AD in other populations. In order to validate these associations, we investigated the IL-1beta polymorphisms (IL-1beta-31, IL-1beta-511 and IL-1beta+3953) in a Chinese population, which has not been studied before. In our study, the allelic frequencies of IL-1beta-31C, IL-1beta-511T and IL-1beta+3953T for the AD group were 0.49, 0.57 and 0.03, respectively. The allelic frequencies of IL-1beta-31C, IL-1beta-511T and IL-1beta+3953T for the control group were 0.53, 0.61 and 0.03, respectively. No significant difference was detected in the genotypic or allelic frequencies (p > 0.25). We conclude that IL-1beta polymorphism is unlikely to be a significant risk factor for AD in the Chinese Population., (Copyright 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel)