Prevalence of dementia among Kashmiri migrants

BACKGROUND: Neurological diseases are common disorders resulting in the loss of productive life and disability. Dementia is becoming a major public health problem in the developing world also. AIM: To ascertain the prevalence of dementia among Kashmiri Pandit population aged 60 years and above. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among the elderly population of the Kashmiris living in a migrant camp. We developed and used a Kashmiri version of the Mini-Mental State Examination as the test instrument, and a score below 24 was considered indicative of dementia. A functional ability questionnaire was also administered to the subjects. A neurologist carried out the examinations. RESULTS: A sample comprising 200 subjects (95 males and 105 females) were evaluated. The prevalence of dementia is 6.5% among the Kashmiri Pandit population aged 60 years and above, which is higher than that reported from other parts of India.