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Background: With the aging of the population, dementia is increasing worldwide. The objec-tive of this study was to identify risk factors for dementia in an elderly population utilizing a primary health care service in Dakar, Senegal. Methods: Through a cross-sectional study con-ducted from March 2004 to December 31, 2005, 507 elderly patients aged 6 65 years who came to the Social and Medical Center of IPRES, Dakar, Senegal, were first screened with the screen-ing interview questionnaire ‘Aging in Senegal’. Those who were cognitively impaired under-went a clinical examination to detect dementia. Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate logistic regression analyses were done. Results: The whole population had a mean age of 72.4 years ( 8 5.2) and was mostly male, married, and non-educated. Hypertension, arthritis, and gastroin-testinal diseases were the main health conditions reported in the past medical history. Smoking was important while alcohol consumption was rare. Social network was high. Forty-five pa-tients (8.87%) had dementia. In the multivariate model, only advanced age, education, epilepsy, and family history of dementia were independently associated with dementia. Conclusion: The risk factors identified are also found in developed countries confirming their role in dementia