(Ivanhoe Newswire) – It's easy to presume Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia hit people in developed countries harder than those in the developing world. After all, people live longer in richer countries, so certainly they are at higher risk.
Not completely so, report researchers from the 10/66 Dementia Research Group, so named because less than a tenth of population-based research into the condition has been aimed at the 66 percent or more of people with dementia estimated to be living in developing countries.
The investigators looked at dementia rates among nearly 15,000 people over age 65 in 11 countries, finding the prevalence of dementia in urban areas of Latin America was just as high as that seen in the U.S. and Europe. The rate of dementia was lower in China and India, but still a problem for people suffering from the condition and their families – even when families didn't label the condition as dementia.
"Our data suggest that even if it is not recognized as dementia, the illness places a heavy burden on both the elderly patient and their relatives," 10/66 head Martin Prince, from the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, was quoted as saying. "Being able to estimate accurately the true population of people living with burden is the first important step towards putting into place appropriate health and social care systems."
Professor Prince and his colleagues hope their findings will spur the World Health Organization to develop programs to raise awareness of dementia in the developing world and come up with ways to better deal with it.
SOURCE: The Lancet, published online July 27, 20080
Sign up for a free weekly e-mail on Medical Breakthroughs called First to Know by clicking here.
