Prevalence of dementia among brazilian population: systematic review

Abstract

As the elderly population increases worldwide, the age-related diseases, particularly dementia, become more frequent. Knowing that Brazil follows the global trend of aging, it should also present an increasing prevalence of dementia. Objectives: the aims of this study are to review the articles of prevalence of dementia in Brazil in recent years, establish comparisons between the studies and identify associations between the dementia prevalence and the population characteristics. Data sources: SciELO, Lilacs and Medline. Methods: retrieving from original articles about epidemiological studies on prevalence of dementia among Brazilian population samples using specific keywords, exclusion of duplicates, screening, full text assessment and characterization of the selected studies’ population samples. Results: from the 357 articles retrieved, only 8 remained after the assessment. The prevalence found in the selected articles ranged from 5.1% to 17.5%. Discussion: despite the good quality of the articles, the small number of selected studies essentially conducted in the southeast region of Brazil is insufficient for an epidemiological characterization of the Brazilian population as a whole. Alzheimer’s disease subtype is shown to be the leading cause of dementia and an association between dementia and age is demonstrated, as well as schooling. Conclusion: more studies from other regions of Brazil are necessary to better evaluate the prevalence of dementia and to investigate the more important factors associated with this disease.