PREVALENCE OF DEMENTIA IN A SEMIRURAL POPULATION OF CATALUNYA, SPAIN

This study was to investigate the prevalence of dementia in an aging p opulation. A two-phase model was used to obtain information on the soc iodemographic, medical and cognitive status of subjects over 65 years of age (n = 516), resident on December 31, 1990, within the general po pulation (n = 3,457) of La Selva del Camp. A diagnostic protocol, foll owing the criteria of DSM-III, was designed for application to all sub jects. We diagnosed 64 subjects with dementia, which represented a pre valence of 14.9% of which 3.2% was classified as severe, 4.5% as moder ate and 7.3% as slight. The prevalence by age and sex showed a large i ncrease with age and a higher prevalence in females, although the latt er was not statistically significant.