Abstract

DIAZ CABEZAS, Ricardo; MARULANDA MEJIA, Felipe  and  MARTINEZ ARIAS, María Helena. Prevalence of cognitive impairment and dementia in people older 65 years in a Colombian urban population. Acta Neurol Colomb. [online]. 2013, vol.29, n.3, pp.141-151. ISSN 0120-8748.

Introduction. Increased expectiva of life of the population will lead to a rise in chronic diseases, including cognitive impairment (CI) and dementia. Objective. To determine the prevalence and risk factors associated with cognitive impairment in people over 65 years in the city of Manizales. Material and Methods. A descriptive cross-sectional population-based study with home assessment in different socioeconomic levels randomly selected, and by using a data collection instrument administered to the subject or caregiver. Four instrumental ADL assessment and three screening tests for cognitive impairment were applied. It was considered a positive case if it obtains abnormal performance in relation to cutoffs predefined in any of applied tests. Statistical analysis was performed using the Epi-info, with means and standard deviations. A p <0.05 was considered significant. Results. 317 people were surveyed over 65 years with similar percentages of men (50.5%) and women (49.5%), with a mean age of 75.2 ± 6.6 years. There were cognitive impairment detected in 125 subjects with any of the three tests, which equivalent to 39.4% of the sample, with significant association for older, low educational level, polypharmacy, hypertension and dyslipidemia. The three tests were abnormal in 6% of subjects, similar to the 5.6% of those who had altered the 4 ADL and could correspond to cases of dementia. Conclusions. Compared with international studies, the prevalence of CI and dementia in this population is within the informed range. In elderly patients with memory complaints, confusion or anormal behavior, it's we recommend use routinely screened for CI detection, with special attention to medications used, mood and vascular risk factors.

Keywords : Prevalence; Dementia; Cognitive Impairment; Diagnosis; Aged (MeSH).

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