title: Prevalence of major neurological disorders among geriatric population in the metropolitan city of Kolkata.
abstract: Well-conducted neuroepidemiological studies for the geriatric population are rare in India. In view of the growing aging population, we planned to determine the prevalence of common neurological disorders among the elderly population in the city of Kolkata. This was a cross-sectional study of a stratified random sample of the city population and carried in two stages through house to house survey. Initially, trained non-medical workers screened the cases with a validated family questionnaire and then a neurologist examined all the screened positive cases. A validated neuropsychological screening test was also applied among the elderly population with cognitive complaints. Results showed prevalence rates (per 1000 elderly population--> or = 60 years) of following disorders in decreasing order: stroke--33.93, essential tremor--13.76, dementia--7.89, Parkinsonism--3.30 and epilepsy--2.57. Sex-specific prevalence showed that stroke was commoner among men and that of other disorders among women. Age-specific prevalence recorded progressive increase in the rates of all disorders among both genders, though not uniformly among women. Overall the crude prevalence of neurological disorders was 60.9 per 1000. The present study shows higher rate of stroke as compared to other neurological disorders among elderly population in India, which needs urgent attention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuromedicine, Bangur Institute of Neurology, Kolkata.
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Das
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Biswas
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.forename: Paromita
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bose
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.forename: T K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Banerjee
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mukherjee
authors.forename: D K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Raut
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chowdhury
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hazra
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003704:Dementia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D020329:Essential Tremor / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D015995:Prevalence; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population