Prevelence and compare the level of dementia among old age home dwelling elders and community dwelling elders

The research project is “A study to determine the prevalence of dementia and to compare the level of dementia among old age home dwelling elders and community dwelling elders of Madurai”. Sampling Technique: total enumerative sampling. Sample size: The sample size consists of 300 elderly people, among them 200 elderly were from two selected rural areas and 100 elderly were from two selected old age homes. Tool: MMSE (Mini Mental Status Examination) scale was used to assess the status of dementia. Conceptual framework: fish bone model. Data Collection: Data were collected by using questionnaire. Statistical analysis: Obtained data was analyzed in terms of both descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Findings showed that, the overall prevalence of dementia was 17.7% among the total samples. Dementia in rural area was 18% and in old age home was found to be 17%. Mild level of dementia was found among 17% of the samples in the rural area when compared with those dwelling in old age home where 14% had mild level of dementia but Moderate level of dementia was higher (3%) in old age home elders than rural elders (1%). No case of severe dementia was reported. There was significant association between level of dementia and selected demographic variables such as age, sex, type of family, family size, pensioner and dietary intake among those residing in rural area whereas those elderly residing in old age homes had significant association between level of dementia and age. Conclusions: There exists a significant difference on the mean cognition score between rural dwelling elders and old age home dwelling elders. The prevalence of dementia in rural is little higher than urban area. The health professionals must pay attention to the needs of rural elders and work on lessening the burden of family care givers of patients with dementia