Department of Human Neuroscience, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Viale dell'Università 30, 00185, Rome, Italy.
National Center for Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, National Institute of Health, Rome, Italy.
Neurol Sci. 2018 Oct;39(10):1775-1778. doi: 10.1007/s10072-018-3475-2. Epub 2018 Jun 15.
The phenomenon of dementia among immigrants and ethnic minorities represents an emerging challenge for Western countries. The aim of the present study was to estimate the number of dementia cases among immigrant subjects residing in Italy and in each Italian region to provide pivotal information on the magnitude of such public health issue.
The number of immigrant individuals, aged 65 years or older, living in Italy and in the 20 Italian regions was derived by the 2017 data of the National Institute for Statistics. The dementia prevalence rates were taken from the European data provided by the Neurologic Diseases in the Elderly Research Group. The estimated dementia cases were calculated by multiplying the number of immigrants with the age- and sex-specific prevalence rates.
Overall, 186,373 older immigrant subjects lived in Italy in January 2017. Nearly 7700 dementia cases were estimated in this population (5022 among women, 2725 among men). When considering each specific Italian region, the number of estimated cases ranged from 19 (Basilicata) to 1500 (Lombardia) with a marked inter-regional variability.
Our findings indicate that the occurrence of dementia among immigrants and ethnic minorities constitutes a novel but already relevant issue for our healthcare systems. A non-negligible number of immigrant individuals is probably already seeking or might seek help for cognitive disturbances, thus potentially referring to general practitioners and/or to the Italian dementia services. The forecasted increasing magnitude of this phenomenon reinforces the need for tailored and locally oriented initiatives and policies.
移民和少数族裔中的痴呆现象是西方国家面临的一个新挑战。本研究旨在评估居住在意大利和意大利各地区的移民人群中的痴呆病例数，为了解此类公共卫生问题的严重程度提供重要信息。
根据国家统计局 2017 年的数据，得出了居住在意大利和意大利 20 个地区的 65 岁及以上移民人数。痴呆患病率来自欧洲神经病学在老年人研究小组提供的数据。通过将移民人数乘以年龄和性别特定的患病率，计算出估计的痴呆病例数。
2017 年 1 月，意大利共有 186373 名老年移民。在这一人群中，估计有近 7700 例痴呆病例（女性 5022 例，男性 2725 例）。考虑到每个特定的意大利地区，估计的病例数从 19 例（巴西利卡塔）到 1500 例（伦巴第）不等，地区间差异显著。
我们的研究结果表明，移民和少数族裔中的痴呆发生是我们医疗保健系统面临的一个新的但已经很重要的问题。相当数量的移民个体可能已经在寻求或可能会因为认知障碍寻求帮助，因此可能会向全科医生和/或意大利的痴呆服务机构寻求帮助。这种现象预计会越来越严重，这加强了制定有针对性和本地化的举措和政策的必要性。
