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Who are the patients diagnosed with dementia in Brazil? A nation‐wide descriptive study
Author(s) -
Feter Natan,
Leite Jayne S,
Rombaldi Airton
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1002/alz.041404
Subject(s) - dementia , marital status , medicine , gerontology , ethnic group , population , social isolation , disease , demography , psychiatry , environmental health , sociology , pathology , anthropology
Abstract Background Brazil has the second highest age‐standardized prevalence of dementia in the world. However, there are no studies that used national‐wide data to describe how this disease is distributed among Brazilian population. We aimed to describe demographic, clinical, and behavioral characteristics from people with dementia (PWD) in Brazil. Methods We extracted data from adults who had diagnosed dementia during the latest National Health Survey (2013), which is the most comprehensive survey with data about health status, lifestyle, and healthcare utilization among Brazilian adult population. We reported data about demographic (i.e. education, ethnicity, marital status, occupation), clinical (i.e. functional capacity, number of morbidities, hospital admission), and behavioral (i.e. physical inactivity, social interaction) aspects of PWD in Brazil. Results Using data from 60,202 individuals (response rate: 74.2%), we reported higher prevalence of dementia in subjects aged 60 years or older (76.1%), female (67.2%), white people (50.8%), widowed (38.3%), unemployed (60.4%), and among those with low educational level (67.1%). PWD reported higher prevalence of hearing (19.5%) and visual (34.4%) impairment, functional disability (66%), physical inactivity (90.2%), social isolation (89.3%) and diagnostic of chronic diseases (73.2%). About 75% from sample self‐rated their health as regular or worse. Although habitual activities were severally limited by dementia in about 70% of sample, only 21% frequented any type of rehabilitation service. Besides a higher incidence on hospitalizations during the last 12 months before interview (27.3%), PWD had longer hospital admissions (p<0.001), with public health system being the major provider (65.7%). In addition to 61% of PWD did not have access to any public place near their houses to perform physical activity, 97.6% did not know any public program for physical activity promotion. Conclusion Dementia is more prevalent in certain sociodemographic groups in Brazil. PWD have higher prevalence of morbidities, social isolation, physical inactivity, and general health rated regular or worse. Low frequency in rehabilitation services and access to physical activity practice may be associated to higher incidence and duration of hospitalizations among PWD. Strategies to reduce social inequality in dementia in Brazil should be encourage in order to reduce its burden of this disease on Brazilian healthcare system.