Dementia - number of patients consulting

The graph below shows the estimated number of patients (per 1,000 registered with a general practice) in Scotland who have consulted either a GP or practice nurse for dementia at least once in the year ending 31 March 2007, by gender and age group. Figures are standardised by deprivation to account for any differences between the PTI sample population and the Scottish practice population in levels of deprivation.

The estimated rates of patients consulting for dementia are very low in the age groups up to and including 55-64 years. As expected, patient rates are considerably higher for both sexes in the 75 years and over age group. Because dementia becomes more prevalent with age, and women live on average longer than men, there are many more women consulting for dementia in the highest age group than men.
These figures and comparable figures for 2003/04 to 2005/06 are also provided in tabular format in an Excel document  (41KB).

Dementia is the only condition which is greatly affected by the revision of the Read code groupings carried out for the March 2008 website update (see Note of Revisions ). A number of Read codes have been reclassified to be included in the Dementia grouping, resulting in an almost three-fold increase in estimated numbers of patients.

Dementia¹ - estimated number of patients in Scotland consulting a GP or practice nurse at least once in the financial year 2006/07 ^{2, 3} per 1,000 patients registered
by gender and age group

¹ Based on ISD's Read Code Grouping (RCG) 'Dementia'.
² Based on 45 PTI practices that submitted complete GP and practice nurse data for the year ending 31 March 2007. Rates are standardised by deprivation.
³ Population source: Community Health Index (CHI) record, as at 30 September 2006.

Note: Following a substantial review of PTI data and subsequent revisions to the methodology for all PTI analyses, direct comparisons with figures produced prior to 27th March 2007 are not valid.  See the Note of Revisions for further information.

Source: Practice Team Information (PTI), ISD Scotland (last updated 25 March 2008)

Related information - Dementia
Excel table giving patient and contact estimates by age and gender for 2003/04 to 2006/07   (41KB)
Dementia - number of contacts (chart)