title: Identification of dementia cases in the community: a Brazilian experience.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the application in Brazil of a simple, low-cost procedure, developed in India by the 10/66 Dementia Research Group, for the identification of dementia cases in the community.
  
  
  METHODS
  Community-based dementia case-finding method.
  
  
  METHODS
  Piraju, São Paulo, Brazil.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-five community health workers were trained to identify dementia cases in 2,222 people aged 65 and older in Piraju, a Brazilian town with 27,871 inhabitants.
  
  
  METHODS
  After the training, the health workers prepared a list of possible cases that afterward an experienced psychiatrist clinically evaluated, according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), criteria and the Clinical Dementia Rating.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 72 cases that were clinically assessed, 45 met the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for dementia. Therefore, the positive predictive value of this case finding method was 62.5%; the estimated frequency of dementia was 2%. Most of the confirmed cases met clinical criteria for Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This simple method was appropriate to identify cases of dementia in the general population and can possibly be extended to other developing countries with limited resources to be applied in health programs.
authors.affiliation: Dementia Research Group, State University of São Paulo, Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil. ateresa@fmb.unesp.br
authors.forename: Ana Teresa A
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Ramos-Cerqueira
authors.forename: Albina R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Torres
authors.forename: André L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Crepaldi
authors.forename: Nair I L
authors.initials: NI
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: Márcia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Scazufca
authors.forename: Paulo R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Menezes
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Prince
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D001938:Brazil; D003150:Community Health Workers / Q000191:economics / Q000193:education; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015140:Dementia, Vascular / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D003906:Developing Countries; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000191:economics*