To Study the Relationship of Socio-Economic Status, Hypertension and the Severity of Dementia in Elderly People

Dementia is a syndrome described by impairment in memory, impairment in another area of thinking such as the ability to organize thoughts and reason, the ability to use language etc. These impairments are related to vascular and non vascular factors and are severe enough to cause a decline in the patient's usual level of functioning. The study was designed to find out the relationship of socioeconomic status, hypertension and the severity of dementia in elderly people. 200 Subjects participated in this study. A detailed autobiographical interview and complete questionnaires including socio-demographic data was taken. The cognitive status was judged by using the Mini-Mental State Examination. Both systolic and diastolic blood pressure was recorded by sphygmomanometer. Socioeconomic status was assessed based on the lifetime longest occupation that the subject had held. Our study observed that pre hypertensive individuals with low socioeconomic status were at high risk of developing severe form of dementia as compared the patients with stage 1 hypertension. Severity of dementia in both pre hypertensive and stage 1 hypertensive patients with middle socioeconomic group was quite similar. 50% patients with stage 2 hypertension showed severe form of dementia. It is observed that 50% of pre hypertensive with high socioeconomic status showed mild form of dementia, 50% patients with stage 1 hypertension with high status showed moderate form of dementia and 50 % with stage2 hypertension of high status showed severe form of dementia. Chi square value showed a significant positive relationship of severity of dementia with the stage of pre hypertension, stage 1 & 2 hypertension. It is concluded that severity of dementia and hypertension are both associated with all socioeconomic classes.