Gender Differences in Outpatients with Dementia from a Large Psychiatric Hospital in China

Abstract

Background: The sociodemographic characteristics and clinical features of dementia patients in psychiatric hospitals have not been well discussed in China. This study was to explore gender differences in outpatients with dementia from a psychiatric hospital in China.Methods: This retrospective study examined outpatients with dementia from January 2013 to August 2019 using data in the OMOP common data model (OMOP-CDM) in Beijing Anding Hospital. Age, sex, number of visits, use of drugs and comorbid conditions were recorded by medical records.Results: 9,004 patients were recruited, and the mean number of visits weas 6.92. There were 3,433 (38.13%) male patients and 5,571 (61.87%) female patients. The most common comorbidities were generalized anxiety disorder, nonorganic insomnia, delusional disorder and depressive disorder. The proportion of use of drugs was highest in antidementia (68.30%), followed by benzodiazepines (48.83%), antipsychotics (45.43%), antidepressants (22.24%) and nonbenzodiazepines (19.96%). Patients with dementia showed a significant gender difference in average age (t=6.36, P＜0.0001). Compared to male patients, female patients had a higher number of visits (7.40±12.90 vs 6.15±10.50, t=4.81, P＜0.0001). There were significant differences in comorbidity composition between male and female patients (t=23.09, P＜0.0001).Conclusions: Our present findings suggested significant gender differences in the proportion of age, number of visits and comorbidity composition in outpatients with dementia.