title: The Pietà study: epidemiological investigation on successful brain aging in Caeté (MG), Brazil. Methods and baseline cohort characteristics.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To present the methods and baseline characteristics of the Pietà study, a population-based survey investigating successful brain aging in the oldest-old.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was conducted in Caeté (MG), Brazil. In 2007, 1,251 individuals aged 75+ years were living in the city and were invited to participate. Participants responded to a general health questionnaire and were submitted to clinical, neurological, cognitive, psychiatric and functional evaluations. A subgroup was submitted to neuropsychological testing, blood tests and magnetic resonance of the skull. Individuals were classified as having cognitive impairment-no dementia, dementia, parkinsonism, psychiatric disorders or successful brain aging.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We evaluated 639 individuals (51.1% of the target population; 64% women), aged 81.4±5.2 years and with 2.7±2.6 years of schooling. Almost 30% of the elderly were illiterates and 82.1% belonged to middle/middle-low socioeconomic levels. Almost 50% were widows, but only 14.3% were living alone.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Pietà cohort is representative of the oldest-old Brazilian population. We believe the results of the study may contribute to increase our knowledge about healthy and pathological brain aging in the oldest-old.
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Pesquisa em Neurologia Cognitiva e do Comportamento, Departamento de Clínica Médica, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte MG, Brazil. caramelli@ufmg.br
authors.forename: Paulo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Caramelli
authors.forename: Maira Tonidandel
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Barbosa
authors.forename: Emília
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sakurai
authors.forename: Etelvina Lucas
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Dos Santos
authors.forename: Rogério Gomes
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Beato
authors.forename: João Carlos Barbosa
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Machado
authors.forename: Henrique Cerqueira
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Guimarães
authors.forename: Antonio Lucio
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Teixeira
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003704:Dementia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors