Centre for Policy on Ageing



Prevalence of dementia in a rural setting — a report from India
Author(s)	S Rajkumar, Shuba Kumar, R Thara
Journal title	International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol 12, no 7, July 1997
Pages	pp 702-707
Keywords	Dementia ; Rural areas ; Estimation ; India.
Annotation	A study to estimate the prevalence of dementia in a rural population was conducted in a community located on the outskirts of Madras in South India. 750 people aged 60 and over, selected using a cluster sampling technique, were interviewed using the Geriatric Mental State schedule (GMS). The prevalence of dementia was 3.5%, the percentage increasing with age. These rural prevalence estimates were higher than in urban settings (WHO multicentre study on cognitive impairment and dementia in developed and developing countries, unpublished), and male/female differences were negligible. The difficulties associated with the use of the GMS in a non-literate rural population are discussed. The implications of these findings for India's growing elderly population are highlighted.
Accession Number	CPA-970807253 A
Classmark	EA: RL: 3YG: 7FA
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.