The Prevalence of Mild Cognitive Impairment (Mci) among Older Population of Rural Kerala: A Cross-Sectional Study

There are only very few studies on estimating the prevalence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) from India, particularly from a rural setting. The available studies were heterogeneous.

The study estimated the prevalence of MCI in a rural setting in Kerala, India.

We conducted a community-based, cross-sectional study among individuals aged 65 and above in rural Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. A cluster-randomized sampling was adopted, the cluster being the wards in the village. It was a two-phase door-to-door survey. Grassroots-level health workers enrolled 366 elders in the selected four wards in the initial phase and collected information on the sociodemographic details, comorbidities, and other risk factors of the participants, using a semi-structured questionnaire. Additionally, the Everyday Abilities Scale for India (EASI) was administered to assess their activities of daily living. In the second phase, a neurologist and a psychologist examined those screened positive with EASI and diagnosed MCI and dementia based on the MCI Working Group of the European Consortium on Alzheimer's Disease and the DSM V criteria, respectively.

The prevalence of MCI and dementia was 18.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 14.7%-23.4%) and 6.8% (4.46%-10.1%), respectively, among the study participants. The prevalence of MCI was higher among the unemployed and those above 70 years of age.

The community prevalence of MCI is more than three times that of dementia among the elderly in rural Kerala.