Prevalence of dementia in Al-Quseir city, Red Sea Governorate, Egypt

Abstract

Dementia is one of the most important public health problems as a result of the rapid increase in the number of elderly persons worldwide. Improvement of prevention strategies and caring for people with dementia should be undertaken. We performed a door-to-door study to screen all subjects aged 50 years and older (n=4,329 of 33,285 inhabitants) in Al-Quseir city. The screening was performed by 3 neuropsychiatrists, using a modified form of the Mini-Mental State Examination. Suspected cases were subjected to case ascertainment according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision, diagnostic criteria for dementia; full clinical assessment; psychometric assessment using Cognitive Abilities Screening Instruments, Hachinski Ischaemic Score, Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale and the Geriatric Depression Scale; neuroimaging (computed tomography and/or magnetic resonance imaging); and laboratory investigations for selected patients when indicated. The prevalence of dementia was 2.01% for participants aged 50 years or older and 3.83% for those aged 60 years or older. It increased steeply with increasing age to a maximum of 13.5% for those aged 80 years or older. Alzheimer's dementia (48.3%) was the most common subtype, followed by vascular dementia (36.8%), dementia resulting from general medical conditions (11.5%), and last, dementia resulting from multiple etiologies (3.4%).

Prevalence of dementia in Egypt: a systematic review

“…14–19 The six eligible studies were conducted in four governorates in Egypt between 1993 and 2013 (Table 1; Figure 2). Two studies were conducted in the New Valley governorate,15,16 and two were conducted in the Red Sea governorate 17,18. However, it is not stated whether the studies included the same individuals.…”

“…Four studies were performed on subjects aging ≥50,15–18 and the other two studies were conducted on people aging ≥60 14,19. Most studies did not report substance-induced dementia or dementia due to alcohol because of the sociocultural characteristics of the communities 14,16–18. In addition, two studies reported dementia in communities with high prevalence of Parkinson’s disease,12,19 one study reported high prevalence of cerebral palsy in the community,17 and one study reported dementia due to chronic renal diseases or hepatic disease because of schistosomiasis 14.…”

“…In Phase I, four studies used the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) questionnaire for screening of dementia 14,15,18,19. The questionnaire was administered by trained neurologists, house officers, or neurology residents.…”

“…The questionnaire was administered by trained neurologists, house officers, or neurology residents. For the illiterate people, the writing and reading parts of the MMSE were excluded, and the full score was calculated as 28 instead of 30 points 14,16,18,19. The other two studies used a questionnaire (sensitivity: 96%, specificity: 93.2%) prepared by the study team.…”

“…Two studies were conducted in the New Valley governorate, 15 , 16 and two were conducted in the Red Sea governorate. 17 , 18 However, it is not stated whether the studies included the same individuals.…”