The Cretan Aging Cohort: Cohort Description and Burden of Dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment

Our aim was to explore the burden of dementia in the Cretan Aging Cohort, comprised of 3140 persons aged ≥60 years (56.8% women, 5.8 ± 3.3 years formal education, 86.2% living in rural areas) who attended selected primary health-care facilities on the island of Crete, Greece. In the first study phase, a formal diagnosis of dementia had been reached in 4.0% of the participants. However, when selected 505 participants underwent thorough neuropsychiatric evaluation in the second phase of this study (344 with Mini-Mental State Examination [MMSE] <24 and 161 with MMSE ≥24), and results were extrapolated to the entire cohort, the prevalence of dementia and mild cognitive impairment was estimated at 10.8% (9.7%-11.9%) and 32.4% (30.8%-34.0%), respectively. Using both the field diagnostic data and the extrapolated data, the highest dementia prevalence (27.2%) was found in the 80- to 84-year-old group, who also showed the lowest educational level, apparently due to lack of schooling during World War II.