PREVALENCE AND CORRELATES OF DEMENTIA - SURVEY OF THE LAST DAYS OF LIFE

Objectives. To estimate the prevalence and correlates of dementia at d eath and to assess the usefulness of death certificate data in the rep orting of dementia. Methods. The authors analyzed next-of-kin intervie ws for 599 male and 628 female decedents using data from the National institute on Aging's Survey of the last Days of Life. Results. Death c ertificate data in this population show the prevalence of dementia to be less than 1%, consistent with previous reports based on death certi ficates but a substantial underestimate compared to the 11.9% reported in a national survey. Using a dementia index based on the informant's report of whether the decedent had been diagnosed with a dementing il lness and the extent of her or his cognitive and functional limitation s, this study found a prevalence of dementia of 8.5%. A high score on the dementia index was significantly associated with older age, Parkin son's disease, and incontinence, Lower relative odds for dementia at d eath were found for people with either a lifetime history or a death c ertificate report of cancer. Similarly, people with a lifetime history of coronary heart disease were found to have lower relative odds for dementia at death. Conclusion. These results suggest that informant in terviews may be a useful source of data to examine factors associated with dementia and to estimate the prevalence of dementia in the last y ear of life.