Dementia in Alto Minho, a descriptive study.

With approximately 35.6 million people with dementia worldwide, dementia has become a major focus of attention and intensive research in developed countries. In Portugalthere is still little informationabout this disease, and that’s why wepropose to characterize apopulation of patients with dementiafollowed in the outpatient neurology department of UnidadeLocal de Saúde do Alto Minho (ULSAM).

Description of a population of 103 patientsfollowed in the outpatient neurology department of ULSAM in 2014.

103 patients followed in the outpatient neurology department of ULSAM between January and March 2014 were randomly chosen. We collectedSocio-demographic and medical data by consulting the electronic records ofpatients. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.0.

The average age of patients was 77 years. There wasa predominance of females with61.17% women. The most frequent diagnosis was of mixed dementiawith 26 cases, followed by Alzheimer’s disease with 24 cases and 17 cases with vasculardementia. The most widely usedanti-dementia drug was memantine. About 83% ofpatients were on some type of psychotropic medication, over 50% of patients werebeing treated with antidepressants, 42% with antipsychotic drugs, 33% with anxiolytic / hypnotic and15% with mood stabilizers. Around one third ofthe total patients had been followedin psychiatry in the last five years, mainly for depressivesymptoms, psychotic symptoms ofsenility, or behavioral disturbances. More than 50% ofpatients had 2 or more risk factors for cardio-vasculardisease, and 76.60% had high bloodpressure. Conclusion: Interestingly, in our sample there isan over representation of vascularetiology as a primary cause, orcofactor of dementia, and there is a high prevalence ofcardiovascular risk factors andparticularly arterial hypertension. Thisleads us to think that better prevention of cardio-vascular disease risksfactors and particularly hypertension could have a significant impact in the prevention of dementia in the Alto Minho. Finally we realize through the great use of psychotropicdrugs in these patients that theinvolvement of psychiatrists in their attendance is essential.