Dementia prevalence, care arrangement, and access to care in Lebanon: A pilot study

Abstract

INTRODUCTION In North Africa and the Middle East (EMRO), studies about dementia prevalence are scarce. The Arabic validated 10/66 Dementia Research Group diagnostic assessment was used to assess the prevalence of dementia in Lebanon in a population-based study. The study also examined care arrangement and access to care. METHODS A random sample of 502 persons older than 65 years and their informant were recruited from Beirut and Mount Lebanon governorates though multi-stage cluster sampling. RESULTS The crude dementia prevalence was 7.4% and age-standardized dementia prevalence was 9.0%. People with dementia were mainly cared for by relatives at home. Access to formal care was very limited. DISCUSSION Dementia prevalence in Lebanon ranks high within the global range of estimates. These first evidence-based data about disease burden and barriers to care serve to raise awareness and call for social and health care reform to tackle the dementia epidemic in Lebanon and EMRO.

Cognitive Reserve Factors in a Developing Country: Education and Occupational Attainment Lower the Risk of Dementia in a Sample of Lebanese Older Adults

“…This study is a secondary analysis of data collected for a cross-sectional study that aimed at investigating the prevalence of and factors associated with dementia among a nationwide community-based cohort of individuals older than 65 years randomly selected from all regions of Lebanon. Data collection for the larger study is still in progress - required sample size is 2500 persons (Phung et al, 2017 ). The sample size computed for this research was nested within the sample size of the national cohort.…”

“…The sample size computed for this research was nested within the sample size of the national cohort. As such, the targeted sample size was 523 participants (335 from Beirut governorate, and 188 from Mount Lebanon governorate) (Phung et al, 2014 , 2017 ). However, a minimum sample size of 500 persons was sufficient to allow a maximal error of ±2 with a 95% CI based on the available estimated dementia prevalence of 5% for North Africa and the Middle East at the start of the study (Phung et al, 2014 , 2017 ).…”

“…For this age group the regional prevalence of dementia is as follow: 5–7 % in most world regions, 4.6 % in central Europe, 8.5 % in Latin America and 8.7 % in North Africa and the Middle East (Prince et al, 2013 , 2015 ). Thus, it is projected that dementia will become a health crisis in Lebanon within the next 20 years (Phung et al, 2017 ).…”

Ageing and health in the Arab region: Challenges, opportunities and the way forward

“…The estimated number of people with dementia in the region is expected to grow exponentially from two million in 2010 to four million in 2030, effectively making it one of the hignest prevalence rates worldwide (8.7% when compared, for example, to 4.7% in Central Europe) (Alzheimer's Disease International, 2015). A recent pilot study from Lebanon provides comparable estimates for persons older than 65 years of age, reporting crude and age-standardized dementia prevalence rates of 7.4% and 9.0%, respectively (Phung et al, 2017). Currently, five countries of the region have a national Alzheimer Association of which four are members of the Alzheimer Disease International.…”

Letter

“…Also, the difficulty in developing novel interventions to detect [1–57], delay [58–69], or halt disease progression continues to be an important hurdle. The well‐recognized public health and economic imperative [70–83] posed by the disease continues to be an important motivator to communicate new knowledge across multiple disciplines that will help increase the likelihood of unlocking the complexity of neurodegeneration [84–90] associated with many dementing illnesses.…”