One in every twelve Bangladeshi people aged 60 years or above may have dementia, a national survey conducted by icddr,b and the NINS has found.
Dementia is a syndrome in which there is deterioration in memory, thinking, behaviour and the ability to perform everyday activities.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), about 50 million people have dementia globally, and 60 per cent of them are from low-and middle-income countries.
The study also revealed that the burden is higher in Rajshahi (15 per cent) and Rangpur (12 per cent) than other divisions, and did not vary between urban and rural areas (8.0 per cent) while the burden of dementia among females was found higher than males across all ages and divisions.
The findings of the study were revealed at a webinar organised by icddr,b in collaboration with the Non-Communicable Disease Control Programme of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) and the National Institute of Neuroscience & Hospital (NINS).
The virtual webinar titled “The burden of dementia among older people in Bangladesh: Findings of a National Survey” was conducted to disseminate the findings.
In order to estimate the prevalence of dementia and major non-communicable diseases in seven administrative divisions of Bangladesh, icddr,b and NINS conducted a nationwide survey during April to September 2019.
The survey involved 2,796 older adults (≥60 years of age), who were randomly selected from urban and rural communities.
The study looked at the burden of dementia, and variations by socio-demographic status, region and striking result regarding healthcare-seeking patterns among the older aged population in Bangladesh.
Professor Dr Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam, Director General, DGHS, was present at the function as the chief guest.
Dr Tahmeed Ahmed, Executive Director at icddr,b, and Prof. Quazi Deen Mohammad, Director, NINS were special guests, while Professor Dr Robed Amin, Line Director, NCDC Programme, DGHS chaired the event.
The study also found that more than half of the individuals with dementia had one or more chronic conditions (multimorbidity), including hypertension (52 per cent), depression (54 per cent), and diabetes (8 per cent)
More than a third of the individuals with dementia had a poor nutritional status (35 per cent underweight), low physical activity (49 per cent), high salt intake (56 per cent) and high tobacco consumption (76.6 per cent), which are common risk factors of NCDs, it said.
Almost all individuals with dementia reported having sought healthcare in the past six months (90 per cent). They have also frequently visited drug sellers (16.6 per cent) than a qualified doctor either in a private facility (12 per cent) or a government facility (5.4 per cent), as per the study.
It is to be noted that there is very little information on dementia among the South Asian population, including Bangladesh.
The unavailability of data has challenged the policymakers to consider and develop strategies and programmes to provide quality care to its senior citizens who suffer the most. The majority of the Non-communicable Disease (NCD) prevention and control programmes target productive age groups with little emphasis on mental health.
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