Objective To identify dementia in geriatric people living in old-age homes and to study the risk factors of dementia in them.

Material and Methods Setting:-Eight old-age homes in Mysore City were selected at random.

Inclusion Criteria The inmates of the old-age homes aged above 60 years staying in the old-age home for atleast 2 months were included in the study.

Collection of Data Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) was done to screen the subjects (n=100) and those with score <23 are considered to have dementia (n=24). To these 24 subjects Blessed Dementia Rating Scale was used.

Results ▶Females (29.4%) showed more signs of dementia than males (12.5%) (p<0.05)

▶More people in the age group 71–80 years had dementia (20% of males, 46.2% of females) (p<0.001)

▶Females who had both hypertension and diabetes mellitus showed dementia in more number (50% being affected).

Conclusion Among the 100 subjects studied 24 were found to have dementia, with higher incidence in females. Occurrence of dementia increased with age and it was higher in female subjects with both diabetes mellitus and hypertension.