Cognitive impairment and dementia in elderly people living in rural Benin, west Africa

• Published in: Dementia and geriatric cognitive disorders Vol. 27; no. 1; p. 34
• Main Authors: Guerchet, Maëlenn, Houinato, Dismand, Paraiso, Moussiliou Noël, von Ahsen, Nicolas, Nubukpo, Philippe, Otto, Markus, Clément, Jean-Pierre, Preux, Pierre-Marie, Dartigues, Jean-François
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland 01-01-2009
• Subjects: Age Factors; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Alleles; Apolipoproteins E - genetics; Benin - epidemiology; Blood Pressure - physiology; Cognition Disorders - epidemiology; Cognition Disorders - psychology; Dementia - epidemiology; Dementia - psychology; Female; Genotype; Health Surveys; Humans; Interview, Psychological; Male; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Psychomotor Performance - physiology; Sex Factors; Surveys and Questionnaires; Benin
• ISSN: 1421-9824
• DOI: 10.1159/000188661

Dementia is increasing as a priority public health problem because of the ageing of the world population. Our goal was to estimate dementia and cognitive impairment prevalence in an elderly population of rural Benin.
In a door-to-door survey, elderly people aged 65 years and above were screened using the Community Screening Interview for Dementia and the Five-Word Test.
The prevalence of cognitive impairment was 10.4% and that of dementia was 2.6%. Age, current depressive disorder and absence of the APOE epsilon2 allele were significantly associated with cognitive impairment.
Prevalence of dementia and cognitive impairment appears to be lower in this study than in developed countries.