Prevalence of toxoplasmosis and its association with dementia in older adults in Central Africa: a result from the EPIDEMCA programme.

Objective: We aimed at estimating the seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) infection in older adults living in Central Africa and investigating its association with dementia using data from the Epidemiology of Dementia in Central Africa (EPIDEMCA) programme.

Methods: A cross-sectional multicentre population-based study was carried out among participants aged 73 (±7) years on average, living in rural and urban areas of the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo between November 2011 and December 2012.

How do self and proxy dependency evaluations agree? Results from a large cohort of older women.

Background: epidemiological studies based on questionnaires can face difficulties when collecting data on functional ability of older people, and may thus use a proxy to obtain or confirm data. It is therefore of importance to compare data from older people and from their proxies, to establish to what extent proxies' answers can be used as a substitute or a complement in epidemiological studies on dependency.

Objective: we evaluated agreement in dependency assessment, and identified factors associated with discrepancy between older people and proxy reports, in a large postal epidemiological survey.