Home › Research › Disparities
Revealing a hidden problem. An evaluation of a community dementia case-finding program from the Indian 10/66 dementia research network
Shaji KS, Arun Kishore NR, Lal KP, Prince M.. International journal of geriatric psychiatry, 2002-03-01
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Background Dementia in India is largely a hidden problem with no community awareness and little help seeking from affected families, despite high levels of strain. Cases must therefore be identified before practical help can be offered. Method After two and a half hours of formal training, local community health workers in rural Kerala were asked to identify possible cases of dementia from the community they served. Diagnoses were then verified by a senior local psychiatrist with clinical and research interests in old age psychiatry. Results The community health workers identified 51 out of 1979 over 60 year old residents (a prevalence of 2.6%) as suspected cases of dementia. Following the psychiatrist's assessment, 33 met DSM-IV criteria for dementia. The majority of confirmed cases were of the Alzheimer's Disease sub-type. Most "non-cases" were found to be suffering from other major psychiatric disorders, with substantial unmet need. The positive predictive value of the community health workers informal screening was 64.7%. Conclusions This simple cost-effective case-finding method can be of practical use in the development of community based dementia care services in India and other developing countries with similar health care systems.
Key findings
- Results The community health workers identified 51 out of 1979 over 60 year old residents (a prevalence of 2.6%) as suspected cases of dementia.
Why it matters
This study trained community health workers in rural Kerala to identify possible dementia cases, and 33 of 51 suspected cases met DSM-IV criteria for dementia. It is about a community case-finding method, not about treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
New to this subject? Start with our plain-English guide: Disparities →
Study details
- Effect size2.6%; 64.7%
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 40/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (International journal of geriatric psychiatry) |
| Journal's citation record | 2 / 4 | International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry: journal h-index 190 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2002 — older than 20 years, still counted |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 2 / 3 | Effect reported as a number, without an interval or test |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 4 / 7 | Cited 87 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 2 / 5 | 3.3 citations a year over 26 year(s) since 2002 |
| Impact for its field and year | 3 / 6 | Cited 3.0× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 2 / 6 | Cited by 3 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 0 / 4 | Cited 2 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 4 / 4 | Last-listed author Martin James Prince: h-index 116 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 0 / 3 | Government Medical College: institution h-index 44 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 0 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 1 institution(s) in 1 country — scores zero (affiliation lists can be incomplete) |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 11921149) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 40 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
May need a subscription OpenAlex found no free copy of the full text (checked 6 Feb 1020), so the publisher may charge for it. The PubMed abstract is free.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Shaji, K. S., Arun Kishore, N. R., Lal, K. P., & Prince, M. (2002). Revealing a hidden problem. An evaluation of a community dementia case-finding program from the Indian 10/66 dementia research network. International journal of geriatric psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1002/gps.553
Vancouver
Shaji KS, Arun Kishore NR, Lal KP, Prince M. Revealing a hidden problem. An evaluation of a community dementia case-finding program from the Indian 10/66 dementia research network. International journal of geriatric psychiatry. 2002. doi:10.1002/gps.553. PMID: 11921149.
BibTeX
@article{shaji2002-11921149,
author = {Shaji, K. S. and Arun Kishore, N. R. and Lal, K. P. and Prince, M.},
title = {{Revealing a hidden problem. An evaluation of a community dementia case-finding program from the Indian 10/66 dementia research network}},
journal = {International journal of geriatric psychiatry},
year = {2002},
doi = {10.1002/gps.553},
pmid = {11921149},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/gps.553}
}
Studies this one cites
Referenced by this study and also in the alzhub library, so you can read them here.
Later studies that cite this one
3 studies in the alzhub library list this one in their references.
Related studies in Disparities
Also tagged “prevalence”
1,224 studies in the library carry the topic tag “prevalence”; these are this study's neighbours in a fixed, alphabetical-by-hash tour of them, not the closest in content. All 1,224 tagged studies.