Trends in hospital morbidity from Alzheimer's disease in the European Union, 2000-2014

Abstract

Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has become a concerning public health issue. We aimed to analyse the trends of hospital morbidity from AD in the European Union (EU) in the period 2000-2014.

Methods: Data from hospital discharges of men and women over 50 years old hospitalised from AD in the EU were extracted from Eurostat database. We tested for secular trends computing the annual percent change, and identifying significant changes in the linear slope of the trend.

Results: Hospital morbidity from AD showed a 0.8% (95% confidence intervals -2.2, 0.6) slight declining trend in the EU. In men and women, we recorded a -0.5% and -1.0% decrease in hospital morbidity rates, respectively. Several countries showed changing trends during the study period.

Conclusion: AD hospital morbidity has slightly declined in the entire EU in the past years. Eastern European countries showed steadily increasing trends, whereas in western and Mediterranean countries rates decreased or levelled off.