Sociodemographic and clinic profile of older adults with dementia in a specializated hospital in Quito-Ecuador
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47606/ACVEN/MV0278Keywords:
dementia, older adults, epidemiology, mental health, agingAbstract
Introduction: Dementia causes disability and their global prevalence is increasing. Despite the large number of older adults in Ecuador, research production on aging and dementia remains low at the country. Objective: To describe sociodemographic and clinic profile of older adults with dementia from a specialized hospital in Quito-Ecuador. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical study of 96 patients with dementia from the Mental Health Unit of a hospital in Ecuador capital. Frequencies and percentages were used to describe qualitative variables, while means and standard deviations were used for quantitative variables. Chi-square test was used to determine the linear relationship between qualitative variables. The statistical significance level was set at 0.05. Results: 76 of the participants were women. It was observed that 78 of patients with dementia had 6 years of education level. Additionally, 64.6 were financially dependent on their relatives, and 44 lived in their relatives homes. The main comorbidities were hypertension, overweight/obesity, and diabetes. Alzheimers type dementia was the most prevalent, and the most common neuropsychiatric symptoms were anxiety, apathy, irritability, and depression. It was found that 95.5 of the studied patients received psychiatric medications, and 35 of caregivers experienced burden. Conclusion: Data consistent with other global reports were found, however, the contribution of this study is relevant due to provide a cultural perspective on dementias in Ecuador.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Johanna Vanessa Suárez Salazar, Elsa Nelly Baca López, José Lenin Quiñonez Gómez, Fabio Washington Patiño Quiroz, Diego Fabián Cadena Fuertes, Tania Lorena Herrera Topa, Andrea Maricela Portilla Jiménez
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