Risk Factors for Dementia in a Senegalese Elderly Population Aged 65 Years and Over

Abstract

Background: With the aging of the population, dementia is increasing worldwide. The objective of this study was to identify risk factors for dementia in an elderly population utilizing a primary health care service in Dakar, Senegal. Methods: Through a cross-sectional study conducted from March 2004 to December 31, 2005, 507 elderly patients aged ≥65 years who came to the Social and Medical Center of IPRES, Dakar, Senegal, were first screened with the screening interview questionnaire ‘Aging in Senegal’. Those who were cognitively impaired underwent a clinical examination to detect dementia. Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate logistic regression analyses were done. Results: The whole population had a mean age of 72.4 years (±5.2) and was mostly male, married, and non-educated. Hypertension, arthritis, and gastrointestinal diseases 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: The risk factors identified are also found in developed countries confirming their role in dementia. It is important to take dementia into consideration in Senegal and to sensitize the community for prevention.

Prevalence and correlates of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias in rural Uganda: cross-sectional, population-based study

“…As expected, advancing age had a statistically significant positive correlation with probable dementia, similar to what has been demonstrated in other studies [9,10,14]. Also consistent with prior work, formal education was inversely associated with probable dementia [13][14][15], although this association has not been universally observed [9,10,16]. Although there were high levels of illiteracy in our study and thede Jager et al study, formal education was inversely associated with probable dementia in our study whereas it did not have the same association in the de Jager study [9].…”

Epidemiology of Dementia among the Elderly in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…Increased homocysteine levels were also reported to be associated with a similar but nonsignificant increase in dementia risk for both Yoruba and African Americans although there was a significant difference in folate levels between the two sites [32]. Further, two Senegal studies linked age, illiteracy, and low social network to the development of dementia [49, 51]. The Senegal findings are consistent with those of a cross-sectional study conducted in South Africa.…”

“…The reported prevalence of dementia for hospital-based studies ranged from 0.05% at a neuropsychiatric practice in southwestern Nigeria (survey period 1998–2007) [45], to 8.87% at a geriatric center in Dakar, Senegal [51]. Further, dementia accounted for 6.90% of patients with acute confusional state in a hospital in Tanzania [48], while 74.00% of 305 patients who presented to a memory clinic in South Africa were diagnosed with dementia [53].…”

Prevalence and correlates of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias in rural Uganda: cross-sectional, population-based study

“…As expected, advancing age had a statistically significant positive correlation with probable dementia, similar to what has been demonstrated in other studies (9,10,14). Also consistent with prior work, formal education was inversely associated with probable dementia (13)(14)(15), although this association has not been universally observed (9,10,16). Whereas, there were high levels of illiteracy in both our study and that of de Jager's et al study, formal education was inversely associated with dementia in our study whereas it did not have the same association in the de Jager study [9].…”