Identification of delirium and dementia in older medical inpatients in Tanzania: A comparison of screening and diagnostic methods.

BACKGROUND: In sub-Saharan Africa, there are no validated screening tools for delirium in older adults. This study assesses clinical utility of two instruments, the IDEA cognitive screen and the Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) for identification of delirium in older adults admitted to medical wards of a tertiary referral hospital in Tanzania. METHOD: The IDEA cognitive screen and CAM were administered to a consecutive cohort of older individuals on admission to Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre using a blinded protocol. Consensus diagnosis for delirium was established against DSM-5 criteria and dementia by DSM-IV criteria. RESULTS: Of 507 admission assessments, 95 (18.7%) had DSM-5 delirium and 95 (18.7%) had DSM-IV dementia (33 (6.5%) delirium superimposed on dementia). The CAM and IDEA cognitive screen had very good diagnostic accuracy for delirium (AUROC curve 0.94 and 0.87 respectively). However, a number of participants (10.5% and 16.4% respectively) were unable to complete these screening assessments due to reduced consciousness, or other causes of reduced verbal response and were excluded from this analysis; many of whom met DSM-5 criteria for delirium. Secondary analysis suggests that selected cognitive and observational items from the CAM and IDEA cognitive screen may be as effective as the full screening tools in identifying delirium even in unresponsive patients. CONCLUSION: Both instruments appeared useful for delirium screening in this inpatient setting, but had significant limitations. The combination of assessment items identified may form the basis of a brief, simple delirium screening tool suitable for use by non-specialist clinicians. Further development work is needed.

Hypertension prevalence and care in an urban and rural area of Tanzania.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the prevalence, detection, treatment and control of hypertension in an urban and rural area of Tanzania. DESIGN: Two linked cross-sectional population-based surveys. SETTING: A middle-income urban district of Dar es Salaam (Ilala) and a village in the relatively prosperous rural area of Kilimanjaro (Shari). PARTICIPANTS: Seven hundred and seventy adults (> 15 years) in Ilala and 928 adults in Shari were studied. RESULTS: Hypertension prevalence (blood pressure > or = 140 and/or 90 mmHg, or known hypertensives receiving anti-hypertensive treatment) was 30% (95% confidence interval, 25.1-34.9%) in men and 28.6% (24.3-32.9%) in women in Ilala, and 32.2% (27.7-36.7%) in men and 31.5% (27.8-35.2%) in women in Shari. Age-standardized hypertension (to the New World Population) prevalence was 37.3% (32.2-42.5%) among men and 39.1% (34.2-44.0%) in women in Ilala, and 26.3% (22.4-30.4%) in men and 27.4% (24A-30.4%) in women in Shari. In both areas, just under 20% of hypertensive subjects were aware of their diagnosis, approximately 10% reported receiving treatment and less than 1% were controlled (blood pressure < 140/90 mmHg). Hypertensive subjects were older, had greater body mass indices and waist: hip ratios, and had more risk factors for hypertension and its complications (smoking, heavy alcohol consumption, physical inactivity, obesity and diabetes) than non-hypertensives. CONCLUSIONS: There is a high prevalence of hypertension in rural and urban areas of Tanzania, with low levels of detection, treatment and control. This demonstrates the need for cost-effective strategies for primary prevention, detection and treatment of hypertension and the growing public health challenge of non-communicable diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa.