Clinical and epidemiological baseline characterization of dementia cases in a specialized center in Recife

Abstract Introduction Dementia numbers are increasing rapidly with a substantial contribution from low and middle‐income countries. There’s a limited number of reports in Brazil, mostly modest initiatives from south‐eastern, more developed regions. With a population of approximately 1.6 million individuals, Recife is among the largest cities of Northeast Brazil, a region of steep social disparities and high prevalence of low‐literacy. The aim of this study was to describe the sample of patients followed at a dementia outpatient clinic in a tertiary center in Recife Methods this is a single‐center, descriptive and health records‐based analysis of patients evaluated in the dementia outpatient clinic of the Neurology and Neurosurgery Unit at the Federal University of Pernambuco between 2018 – 2023. Results 168 medical records were analyzed, of which 137 met the inclusion criteria. 44.59% were male, with a mean age of 66 years. 29.3% of the sample had 8 to 11 years of formal education. On the other hand, 21.7% were illiterate. The mean baseline score on the Mini‐Mental score was 17. Alzheimer’s disease was the most frequent diagnosis (25%), followed by frontotemporal dementia (9.46%), Lewy body disease (4.05%) and Pure Vascular dementia (4.05%). The woman’s main caregiver was her offspring (79%). The man´s main caregiver was his partner (84%). 44% of the sample had hypertension and diabetes (25%). 20% were alcoholic and 19% were smokers. The average follow‐up time for severe dementia was 30.4 months. 66.4% of our sample underwent magnetic resonance imaging and 16% had access to molecular imaging methods. Conclusion patients referred for evaluation were mostly in moderate to advanced stages of dementia, with a significant prevalence of mixed‐type and non‐Alzheimer’s pathologies. This data could suggest a referral bias and poor access to specialized clinics. Despite a modest sample size and heterogeneous data, the present study may contribute towards a better characterization of dementia numbers in the Northeast of Brazil.