Abstract
The prevalence of dementia varies substantially worldwide. This is partially attributed to the lack of methodological uniformity among studies, including diagnostic criteria and different mean population ages. However, even after considering these potential sources of bias, differences in age-adjusted dementia prevalence still exist among regions of the world. In Latin America, the prevalence of dementia is higher than expected for its level of population aging. This phenomenon occurs due to the combination of low average educational attainment and high vascular risk profile. Among developed countries, Japan seems to have the lowest prevalence of dementia. Studies that evaluated the immigration effect of the Japanese and blacks to USA evidenced that acculturation increases the relative proportion of AD cases compared to VaD. In the Middle East and Africa, the number of dementia cases will be expressive by 2040. In general, low educational background and other socioeconomic factors have been associated with high risk of obesity, sedentarism, diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and metabolic syndrome, all of which also raise the risk of VaD and AD. Regulating these factors is critical to generate the commitment to make dementia a public health priority.
Highlights
Epidemiological surveys on dementia have two basic points to analyze: the descriptive point, where ratios are calculated for communities and populations included in the study; the analytic point, which attempts to explain phenotypic variations observed by the identification of risk factors [1]
A study on the incidence rates in UK showed that the incidence for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) was 1.59/1000 person-years and for vascular dementia (VaD) was 0.99/1000
In Italy, the ILSA Study estimated that the average incidence rates per 1000 person-years were 12.47 for overall dementia, 6.55 for AD, and 3.30 for VaD
Summary
Epidemiological surveys on dementia have two basic points to analyze: the descriptive point, where ratios are calculated for communities and populations included in the study; the analytic point, which attempts to explain phenotypic variations observed by the identification of risk factors [1]. In very old age, women have slightly greater probability to develop dementia than men, mainly due to an age-adjusted increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) (RR = 1.3) [6] Whether this gender difference in the prevalence of AD is or is not related to the low number of years of study and intellectual activities among women is still a matter of debate [7]. Besides the fact that AD and VaD share a possible common vascular etiopathogeny, the Nun study showed that there is an important neuropathological association between the amyloid/tau proteins and vascular burden in necropsied brain of most individuals with dementia [12]. Created from raw data provided by Ferri et al, 2005 [4, Page 2115]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
