Meeting Report
Excellent Presentations and a Focus on the Needs of IPA's Latin American Colleagues Highlight Porto Alegre Meeting

E. Jane Byrne

IPA’s third regional meeting in Latin America, held jointly with the Brazilian Association of Geriatric Neuropsychiatry (ABNPG) and chaired by João Carlos Barbosa Machado, president of ABNPG, was convened in Porto Alegre, Brazil, 12-15 October 2000. Dr. Machado and his colleagues on the Organizing Committee and the Local Host Committee (chaired by João Senger) worked heroically, surviving a late change of venue to produce a highly successful meeting. The setting in Porto Alegre was extremely comfortable and conducive to empathic listening, and both the technical (IT) support and translation services were admirable.

In the words of Professor Machado, “The joint meeting of IPA and ABNPG provides a special opportunity for a focus on the needs of colleagues in Latin America.” IPA President Edmond Chiu added, “We value the contribution that Latin America can give to IPA.” “Transcultural perspectives on the mental health of the elderly” was the theme of the scientific program, with a series of state of the art presentations by invited speakers, including Peter St. George-Hyslop on genomics, Francisco Cardoso on Parkinson’s disease, Alistair Burns on the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, and Akira Homma on cholinergic therapies. The cultural effects on caregiving, psycho-pathology, diagnosis and epidemiology of dementia and depression, were discussed in lively sessions, which were epitomized by Ed Chiu’s typically trenchant and scholarly presentation on the ethnocentricity of the DSM diagnostic system.

Ricardo Nitrini reported on the epidemiological study on prevalence and incidence of dementia in Catanduva, Brazil. In this urban area, prevalence was 7.1% of those aged 65 years or more, and incidence 13.5/1000. Similar incidence data were reported as a poster presentation by Pillar Quinoa (as a follow-up to the World Health Organization (WHO) Chile dementia project), with an annual incidence of 1.78% of the population aged 65 years or more. Such data will inform service provision and add to the relatively sparse international incidence data on dementia.

Culturally sensitive neuropsychological assessments were reported by two groups. Jacqueline Gomez reported on NEUROPSI, a brief cognitive function test in Spanish, which was compared in elderly populations in Mexico and Brazil and found to be a valid screening test; and the modifications of the CERAD battery (for low literacy populations), developed by the 10/66 group Latin America and Caribbean network, and reported on a poster by Daisy Acosta.

The cultural aspects of depression also were considered in presentations by Joel Sadovoy (on psychotherapy) and Ed Chiu. In the Latin American context, we were reminded of the particular challenges to service provision posed by economic adversity and by geography (the consultant-led domiciliary model of service provision is not suited to the Andes), and impressed by the innovative alternative models of care, such as the socialization project designed to integrate elderly people with mental health problems into the community, described by Maltempi and Caccozzi, in a poster.

The plenary session on the final day was devoted to a discussion of IPA’s Latin American initiative. Several speakers emphasized the importance of education of both mental health workers and policy makers. 

The announcement of the appointment of David Resnikoff to assist the Mexican government in policy issues relating to the mental health of the elderly was welcomed. It was agreed that IPA would assist with the formation of a Latin American network of specialists in mental health care for the elderly.

Our Brazilian hosts, in their inimitable and indefatigable style, entertained us all generously, providing an informal ambience to continue the transcultural theme of the meeting.

About the Author

E. Jane Byrne (UK) is Senior Lecturer/Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, University of Manchester (UK). She took both undergraduate and postgraduate training at the University of Manchester (1968-1979). From 1979 to1983, she was a Staff Specialist in neuropsychiatry at the Prince Henry Hospital, Sydney, Australia, and, from 1984-1992, was a Lecturer in Old Age Psychiatry, University of Nottingham. Dr. Byrne’s principal research interests are in dementia with Lewy bodies, epidemiology of dementia and currently ‘graduate’ patients and alternative treatments for dementia (bright light therapy and psychotherapy). (E-mail: a-day@fs1.with.man.ac.uk)

Reprinted from IPA Bulletin, Volume 18, Number 1