Prevalence Of Dementia In Dinar Dıstrıct Of Afyonkarahisar

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AIM: This study has been performed in order to examine the dementia prevalence as well as effects of socio-demographic characteristics on the dementia in the population ages 65 and above in Afyonkarahisar province in Dinar district.Materials and Methods: This study was conducted in Afyon Kocatepe University, Faculty of Medicine, and Department of Neurology in January, 2012. Study group was composed of 742 individuals who were 65 years old or older and who live in Dinar district in Afyonkarahisar province. These data were obtained via survey studies which were performed with individuals aged 65 years and above who had health center records. Memory complaints of participants were questioned upon recording their socio-demographic features. Mini Mental Test (MMT) was applied to participants who had memory complaints. Patients who had lower scores than cut-off values were re-evaluated in terms of dementia by doctors of Clinic for Neurology and Psychiatry. Patients who were diagnosed with dementia were determined according to DSM-IV diagnostic criteria. Socio-demographic findings of dementia patients were compared with control patients who were not diagnosed with dementia.Results: Study group was composed of 742 individuals who were 385 (51,9%) male and 357 (48,1%) female. Out of 742 individuals, memory complaints were recorded in 413 (%55.7) of them but cut-off values of only 146 (%19,7) of these 413 individuals were lower than MMT scores. These participants were re-evaluated by specialist in terms of dementia and 81 of them (%10,9) were diagnosed with dementia in accordance with DSM-IV diagnosis criteria. According to the age distribution of dementia patients, 33 (%7,02) of 470 participants who were between the ages of 65-75, 41 (%16,4) of 249 participants who were between the ages of 76-85 and 7 (%30.4) of 23 participants who were 86 years old or above were diagnosed with dementia. The difference between the age groups was statistically significant (p 0,05). According to the socio-demographic features of groups (dementia group or patients who were nor diagnosed with dementia); age, gender, marital status and income levels were significantly different between groups. (p 0,05). Family dementia feature did not lead to significant difference between groups (p=0,17).Conclusion: The prevalence of dementia is detected as %9 in individuals aged 65 and over. The risk of developing dementia increases with advancing age. These findings indicate that individuals with a low income level, women and single individuals have increased dementia risk.

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Dementia , Prevelance , Risk factors

Kocatepe Medical Journal

98

Kocatepe Medical Journal