Depressive/Anxiety Disorders in People with Early Onset Dementia in South Korea

BACKGROUND: Early-onset dementia (EOD) relatively occurs at a young age. We know that the burden of family care and difficulties in economic activities greatly affect not only EOD but also the family. However, the healthcare policy for EOD is still less than that for late-onset dementia (LOD). In addition, there are few studies on mental disorders of EOD using national data in South Korea. We aimed to analyze the current status of depressive/anxiety disorders in EOD using national data and provide basic data for establishing EOD mental healthcare services and policies. METHODS: A total of 3,882,915 EOD and LOD with depressive/anxiety disorders were compared for gender, residential area, health insurance premium, and type of insurance using NHIS DB (National Health Insurance Service Database) from 2016 to 2021. RESULTS: There were differences according to socio-economic demographic factors for both depressive/anxiety disorders. During the observation period, the diagnosis rate of depressive/anxiety disorders in EOD was higher than LOD. After adjusting for gender, residential area, health insurance premium, and type of insurance, the risk of depressive disorder was 1.87 times higher (i.e., EOD higher, adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 1.87, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.78-1.95) among EOD compared to LOD. The risk of anxiety disorder was 1.24 times higher (aOR: 1.24, 95% CI: 1.16-1.32) among EOD compared to LOD. CONCLUSIONS: During the observation period, the diagnosis rate and risk of depressive/anxiety disorders in EOD were much higher than LOD. Therefore, this study suggests that mental healthcare services for EOD should be provided, treatment burden and economic difficulties should be reduced, and additional research on preventing and treating mental disorders should be conducted. KEY MESSAGES: • The diagnosis rate and risk of depressive/anxiety disorders in EOD were much higher than LOD. • The healthcare policy for EOD is still less than that for LOD.