Cognitive Impairment and Dementia in Elderly People Living in Rural Benin, West Africa

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Dementia is increasing as a priority public health problem because of the ageing of the world population. Our goal was to estimate dementia and cognitive impairment prevalence in an elderly population of rural Benin. METHODS: In a door-to-door survey, elderly people aged 65 years and above were screened using the Community Screening Interview for Dementia and the Five-Word Test. RESULTS: The prevalence of cognitive impairment was 10.4% and that of dementia was 2.6%. Age, current depressive disorder and absence of the APOE epsilon2 allele were significantly associated with cognitive impairment. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of dementia and cognitive impairment appears to be lower in this study than in developed countries.