Prevalence of dementia in a rural setting: A report from India

A study to estimate the prevalence of dementia in a rural population was conducted in a community located on the outskirts of Madras city in South India. Seven hundred and fifty elderly 60 years of age and older, selected using the cluster sampling technique, were interviewed using the Geriatric Mental State schedule (GMS). The prevalence of dementia was 3.5%, the percentage increasing with age. These rural prevalence estimates were higher than in urban settings (WHO multicentre study on cognitive impairment and dementia in developed and developing countries, unpublished) and male/female differences were negligible. The difficulties associated with the use of the GMS in a non-literature rural population are discussed. The implications of these findings for India's growing elderly population are highlighted.