The Prevalence of Alzheimer’s Disease; its Risk and Protective Factors Among the Elderly Population in Iran

Objectives: This study aimed at evaluating the prevalence of the Alzheimer disease, and its risk and protective factors in the elderly people referred to health centers in Shiraz, Iran. Methods: The current descriptive, analytical study was conducted on 2000 elderly by the randomly selection method. Mini-mental state exam (MMSE) and geriatric depression scales (GDS) were applied to gather the data. Afterwards, the cases with cognitive deficit went through the psychological and neurological examinations. All statistical computations were conducted by SPSS software, version 22. Results: Of the total number of studied people, 7.85% were identified with cognitive impairment. However, the prevalence of Alzheimer disease was 2.3%. The results indicated that listening to music daily, weekly visits by friends, and the daily consumption of vitamin E were the protective factors, while depression was one of the risk factors in developing the Alzheimer disease. Conclusions: The findings suggested a unique opportunity for early diagnosis and preventive interventions.