Objective: To investigate the etiology of neurological disorders in elderly at outpatient clinic.
Methods: Elderly patients aged 60 years old or more who visited the geriatric neurological outpatient clinic of PLA General Hospital from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2012 and underwent the brain MRI or CT imaging were retrospectively analyzed. The constituent ratio of common neurological disorders in all patients and patients from different age groups were statistically analyzed based on the information from PRIDE data management system.
Results: A total of 1 188 patients were enrolled in this study with well documented record of complaint examination of the nerve system and brain MRI or CT imaging. Common neurological disorders in those patients were cerebrovascular disease(22.39%), mild cognitive impairment and dementia (15.99%), movement disorders including Parkinson disease, Parkinsonism and essential tremor(9.09%), sleep disorders (6.73%) and psychological diseases(6.65%). Spinal degenerative diseases accompanied by neurological symptoms also accounted for 10.52%. Less common causes in those patients were benign paroxysmal positioning vertigo(3.96%), headache and neck pain (3.28%), cranial nerve diseases (2.78%) and intracranial tumors (2.61%). Constituent ratios of mild cognitive impairment and dementia in different age groups were associated with aging, and the same was observed with Parkinson disease.
Conclusion: The common neurological disorders in the geriatric outpatients are cerebrovascular disease and neurodegenerative diseases including different type of dementia and Parkinson disease. Those disorders should be focused for the prevention and treatment of the nervous system diseases in the elderly.