Baseline characterization of dementia cases from a reference center in Recife, Northeast Brazil

There are a limited number of reports on dementia in Brazil. Due to data heterogeneity, dementia figures in Brazil do not uniformly reflect all regions. Therefore, data from the North and Northeast regions, historically most affected by social inequalities, are required.

To describe the sample of patients followed at a dementia outpatient clinic in a tertiary center in Northeastern Brazil.

This was a single-center, descriptive analysis of patients evaluated in the dementia outpatient clinic at the Federal University of Pernambuco between 2018 and 2023.

A total of 145 patients with complete data were included in the descriptive analysis. The mean age was 71 years, and 57% were women. The most prevalent comorbidity was hypertension (54%), followed by diabetes (31%). Most patients were assessed in either the moderate (30%) or severe (33%) stage of dementia. Alzheimer disease was the most frequent diagnosis (31%), followed by frontotemporal dementia (14%) and vascular cognitive impairment (9%). Approximately 36% of the sample was classified as having mixed-pathology dementia. Neuroimaging assessments varied; 60% of patients underwent cranial magnetic resonance imaging, and molecular neuroimaging exams were performed in 42% of cases.

Patients referred for evaluation were mostly in moderate to advanced stages of dementia, with a significant prevalence of mixed-type and non-Alzheimer's pathologies. The present study may set the foundation for further collaborations and prospective studies.