Dementia may be greatly underestimated

LONDON, July 29 (UPI) -- A British researcher says dementia may be greatly underestimated in the developing countries of the world.

Martin Prince of the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, says it is likely that cultural differences may be partly responsible for researchers missing cases of dementia.

"Our evidence suggests that relatives in developing world countries are less likely to perceive or report that their elders are experiencing difficulties, even in the presence of clear evidence of disability and memory impairment," Prince says in a statement.

Unacknowledged dementia, he suggests, places a high burden on the caregiver.

"Our data suggest that even if it is not recognized as dementia, the illness places a heavy burden on both the elderly patient and their relatives," Price says." Being able to estimate accurately the true population of people living with burden is the first important step towards putting into place appropriate health and social care systems."

Prince is part of an international collaboration that recently published a study in Lancet assessing almost 15,000 elderly people in 11 countries. They found the prevalence of dementia in urban settings in Latin America is comparable with rates in Europe and the United States though the prevalence in China and India is lower.