Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T16:39:17.910Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dementia in Subjects Over 65 Years of Age in the Republic of San Marino

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

R. D'Alessandro ,
R. Gallassi ,
G. Benassi ,
A. Morreale  and
E. Lugaresi
R. D'Alessandro*
Affiliation:
Institute of Neurology, University of Bologna
R. Gallassi
Affiliation:
Institute of Neurology, University of Bologna
G. Benassi
Affiliation:
Institute of Neurology, University of Bologna
A. Morreale
Affiliation:
Institute of Neurology, University of Bologna
E. Lugaresi
Affiliation:
Institute of Neurology, University of Bologna
*
∗Clinica Neurologica, Via U. Foscolo 7, 40123 Bologna, Italy
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A study on neurological conditions was performed in the Republic of San Marino, which is the smallest independent state in the world (60 km2, 21 792 people). We personally examined or collected information on all people born in 1898, 1903, 1908, 1913 and 1918 and living in the Republic of San Marino on 31 July 1985. We found 29 people out of 488 with mild to severe dementia. Frequency of dementia increased progressively with age, from 1.8% among 67-year-olds to 25% among 87-year-olds. In women the increase was due mainly to primary degenerative dementia, whereas in men other types of dementia were involved. Our study shows a female/male ratio of more than 2:1 for primary degenerative dementia even considering mild dementia, and this form of dementia represents about 50% of all types of dementia. We found an association between severe auditory loss and primary degenerative dementia.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 153 , Issue 2 , August 1988 , pp. 182 - 186
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1988 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Akesson, H. O. (1969) A population study of senile and arteriosclerotic psychoses. Human Heredity, 19, 546–566.Google Scholar
Barclay, L. L., Zencov, A., Blass, J. P. & Sansone, J. (1985) Survival in Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementias. Neurology, 35, 834–840.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blessed, G., Tomlinson, B. E. & Roth, M. (1968) The association between quantitative measures of dementia and senile change in the cerebral gray matter of elderly subjects. British Journal of Psychiatry, 114, 797–811.Google Scholar
Broe, G. A., Akhtar, A. J., Anchews, G. R. et al (1976) Neurological disorders in the elderly at home. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 39, 362–366.Google Scholar
D'Alessandro, R., Benassi, G. & Morganti, G. (1986a) Side effects of flunarizine. The Lancet, ii, 463.Google Scholar
D'Alessandro, R., Benassi, G., Cristina, E., Gallassi, R. & Manzaroli, D. (1986b) The prevalence of lingual–facial–buccal dyskinesias in the elderly. Neurology, 36, 1350–1351.Google Scholar
Folstein, M. F., Folstein, S. E. & McHugh, P. R. (1975) Mini mental state: a practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinicians. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 12, 189–198.Google Scholar
Gallassi, R., Lenzi, P., Stracciari, A., Lorusso, S., Ciaroulli, C., Morreale, A. & Mussuto, V. (1986) Neuropsychological assessment of mental deterioration: purpose of a brief battery and a probabilistic definition of “normality”, and “non normality”. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 74, 62–67.Google Scholar
Hachinski, V. C., Lassen, N. A. & Marshall, J. (1974) Multi infarct dementia: a cause of mental deterioration in the elderly. The Lancet, iii, 207–209.Google Scholar
Heyman, A., Wilkinson, W. E., Stafford, J. A. et al (1984) Alzheimer's disease: a study of epidemiological aspects. Annals of Neurology, 15, 335–341.Google Scholar
Hughes, C. P., Berg, L., Danziger, W. L., Coben, L. A. & Martin, R. L. (1982) A new clinical scale for the staging of dementia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 566–572.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Molsa, P. K., Martilla, R. J. & Rinne, V. K. (1982) Epidemiology of dementia in a Finnish population. Acta Neurologica Scandinavica, 65, 541–552.Google Scholar
Mortimer, J. A. & Schuman, L. M. (eds) (1981) The Epidemiology of Dementia. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mortimer, J. A., French, L. R., Hutton, J. T. & Schuman, L. H. (1985) Head injury as a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Neurology, 35, 264–267.Google Scholar
Nielsen, J. (1968) Chromosomes in senile dementia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 114, 303–309.Google Scholar
Pinessi, L., Rainero, I., Asteggiano, G., Ferrero, P., Tarenzi, L. & Bergamasco, B. (1984) Primary dementias: epidemiological and socio medical aspects. Italian Journal of Neurological Sciences, 5, 51–55.Google Scholar
Schoenberg, B. S., Anderson, D. W. & Haerer, A. F. (1985) Severe dementia: prevalence and clinical features in a biracial US population. Archives of Neurology, 42, 740–743.Google Scholar
Sulkava, R., Wikstrom, J., Aromaa, A. et al (1985) Prevalence of severe dementia in Finland. Neurology, 35, 1025–1029.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zung, W. W. K. (1965) A self rating depression scale. Archives of General Psychiatry, 12, 63–70.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.