Prevalence of dementia in patients seen at a private hospital in the Southern Region of Brazil

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the epidemiological profile of patients seen at a dementia outpatient clinic. Methods: A retrospective study conducted by medical record review searching data on sex, race, age, schooling level, and diagnosis of patients seen from 2008 to 2015. Results: A total of 760 patients were studied, with a predominance of female (61.3%; p<0.0001). The mean age was 71.2±14.43 years for women and 66.1±16.61 years for men. The most affected age group was 71 to 80 years, accounting for 29.4% of cases. In relation to race, 96.3% of patients were white. Dementia was diagnosed in 68.8% of patients, and Alzheimer's disease confirmed in 48.9%, vascular dementia in 11.3%, and mixed dementia in 7.8% of cases. The prevalence of dementia was 3% at 70 years and 25% at 85 years. Dementia appeared significantly earlier in males (mean age 68.5±15.63 years). As to sex distribution, it was more frequent in women (59.6%) than in men (40.4%; p<0.0001; OR=2.15). People with higher schooling level (more than 9 years) had a significantly younger age at onset of dementia as compared to those with lower schooling level (1 to 4 years; p=0.0007). Conclusion: Most patients seen in the period presented dementia, and Alzheimer was the most prevalent disease. Women were more affected, and men presented young onset of the disease. Individuals with higher schooling level were diagnosed earlier than those with lower level.

Ethnoracial disparity among patients with dementia during COVID-19 pandemic

“…Data from hospitalizations in private hospitals not covered by the Brazilian Unified National Health System (SUS) may have not been accounted for in our analysis. Whilst approximately three-quarters of the Brazilian population seek public health care, private healthcare centers are more accessed by people in higher socioeconomic level 32 . This sampling bias is likely to underestimate our occurrence measurements in some groups including white patients in more developed regions.…”

Diagnóstico e manejo da demência da doença de Parkinson e demência com corpos de Lewy: recomendações do Departamento Científico de Neurologia Cognitiva e do Envelhecimento da Academia Brasileira de Neurologia

“…A DDP representa 13,5% dos casos de parkinsonismo com demência 6 , enquanto a DCL é responsável por menos de 5% das etiologias 7,8 . Em estudos baseados nas casuísticas de centros terciários, a prevalência dessas duas etiologias varia entre 3,7 a 15% [9][10][11][12][13] dos casos de demência. Esses dados são similares aos observados em estudo neuropatológico prévio, em que a DCL foi responsável por 15% das etiologias de demência, seja de forma isolada ou associada a outras patologias 14 .…”

Impacto e desafios da doença de Alzheimer

“…Alzheimer's disease (AD) is neurodegenerative and represents one of the most common forms of dementia in the elderly population. Dementia causes a progressive decline in cognitive domains, behavioral changes, loss of skills and difficulties in performing activities of daily living (ADLs), which causes suffering to patients and their families 1,2 . A retrospective study published recently showed that dementia was diagnosed in 68.8% of patients, with AD being confirmed in 48.9% of the cases 2 .…”