School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Socioeconomic Disparities and Gender Inequalities in Dementia: a Community-Dwelling Population Study from a Middle-Income Country

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-1-2021

Abstract

The proportion of the world's older adults and of its dementia cases is increasing in low and middle-income countries. This is particularly true in Colombia. There, the number of individuals with dementia may increase five-fold by 2050. Yet research is lacking on dementia in such settings. This work estimates the prevalence of dementia in a community-dwelling population in Colombia. It also assesses how gender-based differences in cardiovascular conditions and socioeconomic disparities affect dementia. This work analyzes data on 2000 respondents at least 60 years of age in the Health, Well-Being, And Aging (SABE) study in Bogota. Respondents with dementia are those who have cognitive impairment and at least two limitations in instrumental activities of daily living. The SABE study finds 8.4% of respondents have dementia. Age, cardiovascular risks, and socioeconomic disparities contributed to higher odds of dementia. The contributors to dementia can differ for men and women. For example, socioeconomic disparities were a larger contributor to dementia for women than men. The findings support the cognitive reserve hypothesis on dementia. This holds that pre-existing cognitive processes and compensatory mechanisms influence dementia. Women in Latin America are more likely to suffer from socioeconomic disparities that limit their cognitive reserve. This research points to several policy implications that can help offset these disparities and reduce the prevalence of dementia.

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Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020

https://rdcu.be/dsV0j

First Page

105

Last Page

118

Publication Title

Journal of cross-cultural gerontology

DOI

10.1007/s10823-020-09418-4

Academic Level

faculty

Mentor/PI Department

Neuroscience

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