Data Lacking about the Prevalence of Dementia in Trinidad & Tobago.

To gain insight about the status of dementia in Trinidad and Tobago we carried out a prevalence of dementia survey.

Cognitive Assessment

  • The Community Screening Instrument for Dementia (CSI ‘D’)
  • Algorithm estimates probability of dementia caseness.
  • Has been prevalidated in 25 Latin American, Caribbean Asian, and African centres

Participants

  • Geriatric homes North Trinidad
  • Senior activity centers throughout Trinidad and Tobago
  • Social Welfare Division Office in Tunapuna

How does our population compare to other dementia prevalence studies?

dementia-prevalence

Ageing and risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease

  • The main risk factor for most forms of dementia is advanced age, with prevalence roughly doubling every five years over the age of 65.
  • Dementia affects approximately:
  • 5%-8% of individuals over age 65,
  • 15%- 20% of individuals over age 75,
  • 25%-50% of individuals over age 85.

Welfare Center Age: Risk Factor for Dementia

risk-factor

Current Associations between demographic / health status and dementia

  • Diabetes mellitus, hypertension and metabolic syndrome assessed at middle age have been shown to be associated with risk for dementia
  • Females are considered at greater risk of Alzheimer’s disease than males
  • More years of education are associated with a lower risk of dementia.
  • Studies have examined race as a predictor for dementia

Logistic regression analysis for associations with probable dementia: Welfare Center

  • Dementia is significantly associated with increased age and self-reported hypertension
  • In this population there was no difference for risk between gender, race, years of education and diabetes.

 

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Conclusions from Prevalence study

Further research is needed to include larger samples of persons aged 60 from all regions of the country.
This will provide information for planning of essential health care and social services.

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