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


METHODS
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.


RESULTS
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.


CONCLUSIONS
Prevalence of dementia and cognitive impairment appears to be lower in this study than in developed countries.
Guerchet
Maëlenn
M
Institute of Neuroepidemiology and Tropical Neurology, Tropical and Compared Neuro Epidemiology, IFR 145 GEIST, University of Limoges, Limoges, France.
Houinato
Dismand
D
Paraiso
Moussiliou Noël
MN
von Ahsen
Nicolas
N
Nubukpo
Philippe
P
Otto
Markus
M
Clément
Jean-Pierre
JP
Preux
Pierre-Marie
PM
Dartigues
Jean-François
JF
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000483:Alleles; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000235:genetics; D001541:Benin / Q000453:epidemiology; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D003704:Dementia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D001057:Apolipoproteins E