Profile of Tabriz Older People Health Survey (TOPS-2019): a representative community-based cross-sectional study.

Population aging and its consequences are a substantial global concern. The growth in the number of older people is one of the most important factors increasing the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) on society. The Tabriz Older People Health Survey aimed to understand the socio-demographics, health-related behaviors, and health profile of older adults. This cross-sectional study was conducted on a representative sample of 1362 community-dwelling older adults in Tabriz, the most populated city in northwest Iran. The study used probability proportionate to size sampling and the data collection was undertaken in each participants' place of residence from July 2019 to January 2020. Trained interviewers administered the questionnaire, which measured each participant's socio-demographics, health-related behaviors, and health profile. The sample of 1362 participants consisted of 56.4% women and 54.4% were young older people (60-69 years old). Almost half of the sample were completely illiterate. There was no daily walking in 13.3% of the sample, with women reporting a more sedentary lifestyle than men. Almost 10% of the participants (n = 135, 9.9%) were current smokers, which was higher among men (20.9% vs. 1.5%) and women made up over 88% of those living alone. In terms of sleep quality score (men: 4.63 ± 2.70, women: 5.97 ± 2.93), anxiety (men: 5.79 ± 4.70, women: 7.59 ± 5.51), depression (men: 9.54 ± 3.20, women: 10.63 ± 3.09), and social support (men: 23.65 ± 4.50, women: 22.69 ± 4.77), men were significantly better than women. There were also significant sex differences between women and men in the prevalence of diabetes (31.6% vs. 19.5%) and hypertension (86.5% vs. 73.4%). Furthermore, overall hypertension was the most common underlying disease (81.0%). Older women were significantly worse off than older men, in terms of social and disability-related, as well as having a higher burden from several NCDs. The results of this study might help regional health policymakers to identify targets for improving the health status among community-housed geriatrics.

Avicenna (980-1037 CE) and his Early Description and Classification of Dementia.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), dementia is a disorder that occurs as result of a neurodegenerative process in brain, and usually is chronic or progressive by nature. Most descriptions of senile dementia date back to Alois Alzheimer. In 1906, Alzheimer described the first patient, Auguste Deter, who suffered from the disorder that later became known as Alzheimer's disease. Although, the history of the disease before 1906 is quite rich, little has been said about the contributions of ancient and medieval physicians to the understanding of dementia. Over the centuries, the concept of senile dementia changed from an inevitable mental decline with aging, to different sets of clinical features with narrow limits of diagnosis of a disease in its own right. Documentation of the historical origins of prevention, diagnosis, and therapies of dementia would make an important contribution to a more complete understanding of this pathological degeneration of dementia. The present review focuses on the contributions of Avicenna (AD 980-1037) to the development of diagnosis and the discovery of etiology of different forms of dementia, with the goal of revealing the extent to which dementia was understood in the golden age of Islam in Persia.