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. 2011 Jan;7(1):10-4.
doi: 10.1016/j.jalz.2010.11.003.

Counting dementia: There is no one "best" way

Lenore J Launer  1
Affiliations

Counting dementia: There is no one "best" way

Lenore J Launer. Alzheimers Dement. 2011 Jan.

Abstract

The growing societal and individual burden of dementia means that counting the cases of dementia is critical. There are several approaches and methods that can be used to identify dementia cases. The ascertainment can range from very detailed characterization of the individual (deep) to a brief standardized assessment (wide) that emphasizes individual functioning. The choice of going deep or wide depends on the goal of the ascertainment. These goals are discussed, as well as the emerging issues that may change the way dementia cases are classified.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure statement for author

The author has no conflicts to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Prevalence of dementia in two early community-based studies [1,2]
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Prevalence of dementia for community-based studies [–6]
Figure 3
Figure 3
Prevalence of different MCI sub-types: CHS Pittsburg Cohort [13]
Fig 4
Fig 4
Cognitive disorders are a continuous phenomenon, making cut-points difficult to establish (Launer, unpublished)
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
The pathology underlying dementia is heterogeneous [16]
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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