Application of capture-recapture methodology to estimate the prevalence of dementia in South Carolina.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of dementia in individuals 65 years of age and older in the state of South Carolina using capture-recapture methodology.


METHODS
We linked data from the Department of Mental Health admissions, inpatient admissions, and emergency room visits. Separate log-linear models were used to obtain estimates of the underascertainment-corrected prevalence of dementia in twelve age-gender-race subgroups, which were summed to estimate the prevalence of dementia in the total population.


RESULTS
We found an overall prevalence of dementia of 14% in South Carolina for persons 65 years of age and older using capture-recapture methodology. This estimate of persons with dementia is 25% higher than the identified cases of dementia in the South Carolina Alzheimer's Disease Registry (10.5%).


CONCLUSIONS
Although capture-recapture methods are prone to limitations, they can be used to more accurately estimate the prevalence of dementia in a geographic area.
Sanderson
Maureen
M
Alzheimer's Disease Registry, Norman J. Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA. msanderson@utb.edu
Benjamin
John T
JT
Lane
Marcia J
MJ
Cornman
Carol B
CB
Davis
Dorothy R
DR
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000453:epidemiology; D003704:Dementia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010351:Patient Discharge; D015995:Prevalence; D040442:Public Health Informatics; D012042:Registries; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013022:South Carolina / Q000453:epidemiology