A Case of Alzheimer’s Dementia in Uganda

Abstract

Literature on the prevalence of dementia and its different types in Uganda is scanty. In the Ugandan clinical setting, in addition to Alzheimer’s disease and the vascular dementias, the other common causes of dementia include infections (commonly HIV and Syphilis), substance abuse (alcohol), trauma (road traffic accidents) and nutritional deficiencies (vitamin B-12). Uganda has a population of about 35 million people, with life expectancy at birth of the total population is at 53.45 years, which puts her at 204th in the world. About 2.1 % of the total Ugandan population is over 65 % and 4.6 % is over 60. These figures are expected to rise, but as it is, the epidemiological data may not necessarily follow world trends due to the prevalence of other killer diseases notably HIV/AIDS. A Ugandan study found that 13.2 % of all elderly patients of >60 years admitted on non-psychiatric wards had dementia followed by depression as the two most common psychiatric diseases of the elderly. In keeping with WHO recommendations for Low and Middle Income Countries (LMIC) with young populations, the cut off age to be considered elderly is ≥60 years in Uganda. This chapter presents a case of Alzheimer’s Dementia illustrating the challenges of care and management of this disease in a Ugandan African setting.