Knowledge of Alzheimer's disease and subjective memory impairment in Latin American seniors in the Greater Toronto Area.
BACKGROUND
This study examined knowledge levels of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in a sample of Latin American seniors attending AD educational sessions in a Canadian city; and investigated the relationship between knowledge of AD, demographic variables, education level, acculturation level (years living in Canada), subjective memory complaint and objective memory impairment.


METHODS
One hundred and twenty-five Spanish-speaking adults living independently in the Greater Toronto Area completed subjective and objective memory measures and completed a questionnaire on their knowledge of AD.


RESULTS
Knowledge of AD was very weakly correlated with level of education and years living in Canada. In addition, there were no correlations between knowledge level and gender or subjective memory complaints.


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that Latin American seniors, in the Toronto community, are not knowledgeable about AD. In spite of showing subjective cognitive impairment the sample were not aware of the principal cause of their symptoms. Additional research is needed to develop better focused and specifically directed health promotion initiatives for the Latin American seniors living in the Toronto community.
Fornazzari
L
L
Department of Psychiatry, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. forna@rogers.com
Fischer
C
C
Hansen
T
T
Ringer
L
L
D000069:Acculturation; D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D001364:Awareness; D004522:Educational Status; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007843:Latin America / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009864:Ontario; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires