title: Screening Younger Individuals in a Primary Care Setting Flags Putative Dementia Cases and Correlates Gastrointestinal Diseases with Poor Cognitive Performance.
abstract: Diagnosing dementia is challenging in many primary care settings, given the limited human resources and the lack of current diagnostic tools. With this in mind, a primary care-based cohort was established in the Aveiro district of Portugal.
  
  
  
  A total of 568 participants were evaluated using cognitive tests and APOE genotyping.
  
  
  
  The findings revealed a dementia prevalence of 12%. A strong correlation between increasing Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scores and education was clearly evident. Other highly relevant risk factors were activities of daily living (ADL), instrumental ADL, aging, depression, gender, the APOE ε4 allele, and comorbidities (depression as well as gastrointestinal, osteoarticular, and neurodegenerative diseases). A hitherto unreported, significant correlation between gastrointestinal disease and high CDR score was clearly observable.
  
  
  
  This study shows the merit of carrying out a dementia screening on younger subjects. Significantly, 71 subjects in the age group of 50-65 years were flagged for follow-up studies; furthermore, these cases with a potentially early onset of dementia were identified in a primary care setting.
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience and Signalling Laboratory, Department of Medical Sciences, Institute of Biomedicine - iBiMED, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal.
authors.forename: Ilka M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Rosa
authors.forename: Ana Gabriela
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Henriques
authors.forename: Liliana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.forename: Joana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: Odete A B
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: da Cruz E Silva
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000235:genetics; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011174:Portugal; D015995:Prevalence; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
chemical_list: D001057:Apolipoproteins E