Detection of dementia in primary care: the Linköping study.
We examined to what extent dementia and cognitive impairment are detected in a primary health care centre. A systematic sample of patients aged 70 years and above, who attended a primary health care centre for a doctor's consultation (n = 350) were examined with a neuropsychiatric examination and an interview with a close informant. Dementia was diagnosed according to DSM-III-R. Medical records from the health centre were examined for entries on cognitive decline or dementia, other diagnoses and prescribed drugs. The prevalence of dementia was 16.3% and a further 3.1% had questionable dementia. Cognitive disturbances or dementia were noted in case records in 15 out of 57 (26%) demented cases, and in 1 out of 11 (9%) questionable dementias. Compared to non-demented patients, the demented had more diagnoses and a higher number of prescribed drugs. Severity and duration of dementia were associated with an increased detection.
Olafsdóttir
M
M
Department of Medicine and Care, Primary Care, The Health University of Linköping, Linköping, Sweden. maria.olafsdottir@soc.liu.se
Skoog
I
I
Marcusson
J
J
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011159:Population Surveillance; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D015995:Prevalence; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology