Sotolongo AO, Rodríguez BL

Language: Spanish
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ABSTRACT

Introduction: dementia and Alzheimer's disease constitute an important health problem with human, social and economic repercussion in countries with high life expectancies. Objectives: to determine the prevalence of the dementia syndrome and Alzheimer's disease in the elderly. Methods: a cross-sectional and descriptive study was conducted in the elderly population belonging to "Pedro Fonseca" polyclinic in Lisa municipality from January 3rd to December 30th, 2011. The universe of study was 1 739 old people, from whom 312 aged 65 years or more, cared for by the physician's office no. 6 of this polyclinic, were selected. Those old people with history of schizophrenia, mental retardation, other psychiatric diseases and under electroconvulsing therapy were excluded. Alzheimer's disease was diagnosed on the basis of the American Psychiatric Society criteria. All the aged people who made up this sample or their caregivers gave their consent to take part in this study. Results: dementia syndrome was present in 34 out of 312 participants for a prevalence rate of 10.8 %. Prevalence increased with the age. The highest prevalence rate was observed in probable Alzheimer-type dementia found in 22 (64.7 %) patients. Conclusions: the prevalence of dementia syndrome and Alzheimer's disease was significant in the older people, which demonstrated that these diseases pose an important health problem in the study area.