Elderly Japanese emigrants to Brazil before World War II: II. prevalence of senile dementia

✍ Scribed by Kenichi Meguro; Mitsue Meguro; Paulo Caramelli; Junichi Ishizaki; Hideo Ambo; Rosa Y. S. Chubaci; Gerson S. Hamada; Ricardo Nitrini; Atsushi Yamadori

• Book ID: 102227700
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 62 KB
• Volume: 16
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6230
• DOI: 10.1002/gps.430

✦ Synopsis

Background:

We previously showed the prevalence of dementia in the town of tajiri (miyagi prefecture, japan), and found it to be 8.0%. the first population-based study on dementia in brazil (catanduva) disclosed the prevalence as being 7.1%. to evaluate the effects of environment on development of dementia, elderly japanese immigrants living in brazil were examined. brazil is the country with the largest number of japanese immigrants.

Methods:

All immigrants aged 65 years and over from miyagi prefecture, living in the four cities of the são paulo metropolitan area were targeted (n = 192). we were able to examine 166 subjects (86.5%). the diagnosis of dementia was based on the dsm-iv with the severity assessed by the cdr (clinical dementia rating) scales. the cognitive ability screening instrument (casi) was used for neuropsychological assessment.

Results:

Thirteen subjects were diagnosed with dementia, cdr 1-3, the prevalence being 7.8%. older subjects suffered more from dementia, and, paradoxically, the more highly educated subjects also suffered more. all the casi items, except for long-term memory and visual construction, significantly deteriorated in the cdr 0.5 group compared with the cdr 0 group.

Comments:

The prevalence of dementia was not thought to be affected by environmental factors. a paradoxically higher rate of dementia in the more educated subjects was probably due to the historical problems of the immigrants. intact casi item long-term memory in the cdr 0.5 group indicated that suspected dementia patients could maintain this function. this is the first epidemiological study on dementia in elderly japanese immigrants in brazil.