Abstract

Background: With the aging of the population, dementia is increasing worldwide. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of dementia in an elderly population utilizing a primary health care service in Dakar, Senegal and to identify the risk factors.

Methods: Through a cross-sectional conducted from March 2004 to 31 December 2005, 507 elderly patients aged 65 years and over received at the Social and Medical Center of IPRES, Dakar-Senegal were first screened with a screening interview questionnaire ‘Aging in Senegal’. Those who were cognitively impaired underwent a clinical exam to detect dementia. Uni, bi and multivariate logistic regression analysis were done.

Results: The population of study has a mean age of 72.4 years (±5.2), mostly male, married, and non-educated. Hypertension, arthritis, gastro-intestinal diseases and were the main health conditions reported in the past medical history. Smoking was important while alcohol consumption was rare. Social network was high. Forty five patients (8.87%) had dementia. In the multivariate model, only advanced age, education, epilepsy and family history of dementia were independently associated with dementia.

Conclusion: Prevalence of dementia is high in the elderly primary care patients with risk factors identical to the ones found in developed countries. It is important to take into consideration dementia in Senegal and to sensitise the community for primary prevention.

Keywords: Dementia; Prevalence; Risk factors; Elderly population; Senegal