The huge burden of dementia in Latin America

Abstract

As mentioned in your Editorial,1 dementia is having a huge social and economic eff ect in Latin American countries. The prevalence of dementia in people aged 65 years and older is about 7·1%.2 As the population continues to age, about 7·6 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean are estimated to develop dementia by 2030.3 Latin America faces the same challenges in dealing with dementia as rich countries do, but with a much lower level of preparedness and relatively little awareness. For example, we have reported4 that, even among neurologists, a substantial number of practicing physicians that diagnose dementia will do so without providing a specifi c diagnosis of the dementia type.