Perceptions of risk and prevention of dementia in the healthy elderly

Objectives: ( 1) To determine the attitudes and perceptions of the elderly with regard to dementia. ( 2) To correlate these beliefs with demographic variables of age, sex, intelligence scores and social class. Method: A postal questionnaire survey of a sample of 562 subjects of the Manchester University Age and Cognitive Performance longitudinal study group. Results: The response rate was 95%. Most responders (69%) did not worry about dementia, although they were more likely to think about it if they had a family member with dementia ( p < 0.005). There is no link between social class, sex, intelligence scores and age with regard to worries and concerns of dementia. The majority of responders (82%) took action to maintain their health but demonstrated poor awareness of risks or protective factors for dementia. Conclusion: The elderly on the whole were not fearful of dementia or of acquiring it. There was poor awareness of risks or protective factors for dementia. Copyright (c) 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel.