Implementação em Portugal de um estudo de prevalência da demência e da depressão geriátrica: a metodologia do 10/66 Dementia Research Group

Introduction Dementia and depression have a huge social impact. In Portugal, epidemiological data is scarce regarding community dwelling elderly people with these conditions. In developing countries, the 10/66 Dementia Research Group‐DRG has conducted multiple studies on the corresponding prevalence and incidence. The 10/66‐DRG protocols for population‐based studies were extensively validated in those countries, and there is a rationale to apply them in low literacy elderly populations in Europe. We describe the implementation of the protocols related to the prevalence study (on dementia and geriatric depression) in Portuguese settings. Materials and methods This is a one‐phase survey, in which all people 65+ years living in defined catchment areas are comprehensively evaluated. Information is collected directly from participants and from a related informant (www.alz.co.uk/1066/). Results We selected and mapped an urban area (in Fernão Ferro) and a rural one (in Mora). The final samples were n = 702 and n = 779 respectively. Questionnaires were carefully translated and culturally adapted. Rigorous training procedures took place to ensure inter‐rater reliability. Discussion and conclusions The implementation of the 10/66‐DRG protocols will lead to robust data on the prevalence of dementia and depression in community samples of elderly people in Portugal. Given the international validity of our methodology, these results will be comparable with those from other 10/66 centres around the world.