Incidence of dementia in elderly Latin Americans: Results of the Maracaibo Aging Study.

Introduction: There are few longitudinal studies of dementia in developing countries. We used longitudinal data from the Maracaibo Aging Study to accurately determine the age- and sex-specific incidence of dementia in elderly Latin Americans.

Methods: The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition, Text Revision) was used to diagnose dementia, which was classified as Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, or other.

Risk of dementia associated with elevated plasma homocysteine in a latin american population.

The relationship between total homocysteine (tHcy) and dementia risk remains controversial, as the association varies among populations and dementia subtypes. We studied a Venezuelan population that has high prevalence of both elevated tHcy and dementia. We tested the hypotheses that (1) elevated tHcy is associated with increased dementia risk, (2) the risk is greater for vascular dementia (VaD) than for Alzheimer's disease (AD), and (3) a history of stroke may partly explain this association.

High prevalence of dementia in a Caribbean population.

Background/aims: People in Caribbean countries are thought to be at particularly high risk for dementia. Basic descriptive epidemiology of dementia is required for populations in the region to determine the validity of this hypothesis. The main objectives of the study were to assess the prevalence, types and severity of dementia among elderly people (>or=55 years old) in an urban area on the Caribbean coast of Venezuela, and to determine the gender and age distribution of affected people.

Total plasma homocysteine values among elderly subjects: findings from the Maracaibo Aging Study.

Objectives: The present study generated baseline data for total homocysteine (tHcy) in elderly Caribbeans of Hispanic ancestry, residing in Venezuela, their country of origin.

Design And Methods: 2106 participants in the Maracaibo Aging Study (MAS), older than 55 years, underwent standardized clinical and laboratory assessments, including measurement of plasma tHcy levels, folate, and vitamin B12 in fasting samples.

Results: tHcy concentration in the healthy, normative group ranged from 4.

The Maracaibo Aging Study: population and methodological issues.

The Maracaibo Aging Study is a longitudinal, population-based, one-step multidisciplinary study of age-related diseases, with a particular focus on memory-related disorders, among subjects over 55 years living in a neighborhood of the city of Maracaibo, Venezuela. Three phases were scheduled for this study. First, a door-to-door survey was conducted in order to build a registry and to obtain general and sociodemographic characteristics.