Incidence and Risk Profile of Dementia in the Regions of Middle East and North Africa

BACKGROUND: The risk of dementia is reported as "epidemic" and "looming" over the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. For this, we performed a multi-language review and feasible analysis on the incidence of dementia to offer apt conclusions. METHODS: Totally, 3 databases (Magiran, Scientific Information Database, and PubMed) and 1 non-database source (Google) were searched in French, English, and Persian by using specific keywords and their combinations. All searches were independent and had no restriction for the year or type of publication. We also calculated cumulative incidence of dementia for Egypt and Israel-Palestine from relevant prevalence estimates by using standard formula. RESULTS: Little information on incidence was available, sparing Israel (2.4/100,000/year; pre-senile). Ten (48.0%) countries had none-to-little information (of any kind) on dementia, indicating considerable awareness deficit in this region. Cumulative incidence of dementia in Egypt and Israel-Palestine was 2.7% over 20 years (55 new cases) and 14.7% (130 new cases) over 6 years, respectively. In Lebanon, cumulative incidence was 7.5% over 20 years. Data looked across dementia-related factors (i.e., fertility rate, polygamy, violence, hypovitaminosis D, diabetes, hypertension, life expectancy, age structure) did not seem to support epidemic proportions of dementia for MENA. CONCLUSIONS: MENA is youthful and dementia here is neither likely to be an epidemic nor looming over. The only possible exception might be Arab pocket in Israel. To us, previous attributions on dementia do not seem to be based on the realities of this region and, therefore, may prevent pragmatic addressal of dementia. Lastly, values-based collaborations are invited to jointly fill the awareness deficit in a unique low-cost manner.