The pattern of neurological diseases in elderly people in outpatient consultations in Sub-Saharan Africa

BACKGROUND: Neurological diseases are frequent in older adults, affecting between 5% and 55% of people age 55 and older. They are associated with a high risk for adverse health outcomes, including mortality, disability, institutionalization and hospitalization. Little is known about the epidemiology and clinical pattern of neurological disorders of the elderly in developing countries. Although many studies have demonstrated the areas where the burden of neurological diseases lies, elderly patients in Sub-Saharan Africa have received little attention. We performed this descriptive study to understand the burden of disease faced by Cameroonian neurologists and geriatricians. METHODS: The records of all out-patient neurological consultations from May 2005 to December 2011 were collected at the Clinique Bastos, the sole clinic with adult neurological consultations during the study period in Yaoundé, the political capital of Cameroon. All medical records were reviewed by a neurologist and neurological diagnoses were classified according to ICD-10. RESULTS: Among a total of 912 patients, 187 (20.5%) were aged 60 and older. According to the ICD-10 classification, episodic and paroxysmal disorders were present in 18.7% of patients, extrapyramidal and movement disorders in 14.6%, and nerve, nerve root and plexus disorders in 13.3%. The most common neurological diseases of the elderly in this study were lumbar arthrosis (14%), dementia (Alzheimer’s type, vascular) (12.4%), Parkinson’s disease (10.2%), and polyneuropathy (9.1%). CONCLUSION: Degenerative diseases like dementia and Parkinson’s disease as well as strokes and headaches are frequently encountered neurological diseases in elderly patients in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is important that standard treatment regimes, often Ministry of Public Health based, are adhered to these diseases.