MORE than five million Chinese over the age of 65 are afflicted with senile dementia, accounting for one quarter of the world’s sufferers, the Beijing Gerontology Research Center said Saturday.

　　The center has just concluded a survey of more than 40,000 elderly people from 39 areas, including Beijing and Shanghai.

　　Medical specialists who participated in the survey said senile dementia had become a major disease after cardiac-cerebral vascular diseases, endangering the health of the aged in China.

　　According to the survey, less then 40 percent of people suffering from light or moderate senile dementia had consulted a doctor, and only 34 percent of those suffering from serious dementia ever sought advice from doctors, which demonstrated the general lack of proper understanding about the disease.

　　Moreover, relatives of about a half of the people suffering from senile dementia wrongly believed it was not a disease, but just the result of aging.

　　After tracing different groups of elderly people from diverse communities in Beijing for three years, specialists found that among old people over 60, the risk of having senile dementia more than doubles every five years, and old people in rural areas were more likely to develop the illness than those in urban areas.

　　Their investigation also showed the higher one’s education, the lower the risk of senile dementia.

　　Senile dementia has already attracted the attention of the Beijing Municipal Government.

　　Xuanwu Hospital in downtown Beijing has opened a special outpatient service for those suffering from senile dementia and installed 15 beds for patients.

　　(Xinhua)