Neurology & Neuroscience

Object: Describe the prevalence of Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia in an over 60 years old Salvadoran population.

 

Abstract Background: Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia are forgotten morbidities in public health systems of developing countries, which generate large economic costs and also shortening the quality of life of individuals who have them. The prevalence of mild cognitive impairment and dementia remain unclear in the Salvadoran population Therefore, this study determined the prevalence of mild cognitive impairment and dementia in a population of adults over 60 years old in El Salvador.

 

Methods: A transversal descriptive two phases study was conducted. In the first phase, four screening tests were applied to 117 subjects. In the second one 60 patients with abnormal screening tests were evaluate by psychiatrist to confirm or rule out the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment or dementia. The data obtained were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistical methods and prevalence of both morbidities, demographic profile, years of formal studies and other morbidities present were established.

 

Results: It was found that 54.7% of the total population obtained an abnormal screening tests. The prevalence of mild cognitive impairment was set at 17.09% and 10.25% for dementia. The prevalence of dementia projected by the Alzheimer Disease International for Latin America for 2015 was 8.4% of those over 60 years old. There were no statistically significant differences between the results of the screening test.

 

Conclusions: In this study, the prevalence of mild cognitive impairment and dementia were higher than those projected in other studies for the Latin American region. More multicentricity studies are needed to confirm the findings.

 

Keywords: mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and screening test, prevalence, dementia.