[Causes of dementia in Maracaibo, Venezuela: a re-evaluation]. / Reevaluación de las causas de demencia en Maracaibo, Venezuela.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: In a previous report we analyzed the causes of dementia in an autopsy population from four hospitals of Maracaibo, Venezuela. Our results showed that vascular dementia (VD) accounted for 86.7% of all clinically diagnosed demented patients, whereas no cases of Alzheimer's disease (AD) were neuropathologically demonstrated. Six years later, we undertook a similar study, in order to re-evaluate the frequency of the different causes of dementia in our country. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We studied 611 adult brains obtained from autopsies performed during the period 1992-1998; 39 of these came from clinically demented patients. RESULTS: Vascular dementia was disclosed in 33 cases (84.6%), five cases (12.82%) showed evidence of specific causes for dementia other than VD or AD, and in one of the cases (2.56%) the neuropathological changes were specific for AD. CONCLUSIONS: Our current results confirm the conclusions of our previous study and contrast with the vast majority of reports in the medical literature regarding the frequency of the different causes of dementia, except for studies from China, Japan and Russia that yielded similar findings as ours. At present, further investigations are being undertaken in order to come up with possible explanations for these differences.