PREVALENCE OF DEMENTIA IN THE COMMUNITY - A RURAL-URBAN COMPARISON FROM MADRAS, INDIA

Two studies to estimate the prevalenlce of dementia, one in a rural an d the other in an urban area, were conducted in Madras in South India. Seven hundred and fifty people aged 60 years and over, selected using the cluster sampling technique, constituted the rural sample. The urb an sample comprised 1,300 people 65 years and over, selected using the multistage stratified random sampling technique, Both samples were in terviewed using the Geriatric Mental State schedule (GMS). The prevale nce of dementia was 3.5% in the rural and 2.7% in the urban setting an d increased exponentially with age. Rural prevalence estimates were hi gher than the urban, Though gender differences were negligible in the rural setting dementia rates were significantly higher among urban mal es in contrast to urban females. The paper compares the findings of th e two studies and discusses their implications for India's gr owing el derly population in the context of age, literacy and gender.