[An estimate of the prevalence of dementia and Alzheimer's disease in Portugal].

The authors projected to the Portuguese population the data on prevalence of dementia and Alzheimer's disease obtained respectively by Hofman et al. and Rocca et al through reanalyses of European epidemiological studies conducted or published between 1980 and 1990. The projection relies on the fact that the results of these reanalyses are extensive to all European countries. With this projection which is based on the Portuguese population census of 1991 the numbers of about 92.470 demented patients and about 48.706 Alzheimer's patients are obtained for Portugal. The authors think that, until systematic epidemiological studies of dementia and Alzheimer's disease are available in Portugal, the data now provided are useful for the planning of the care of these patients.