The prevalence of cognitive impairment among nursing home residents in Taipei, Taiwan.
A random sample of nursing home residents over 65 years of age were interviewed. Two hundred ninety-two participants received the Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire. Two hundred eleven were unable to answer the questionnaire, but their caregivers provided information about their daily activities and performance ability. We found that 255 (50.9%) fit our criteria of cognitive impairment and 236 (47.7%) had both impaired cognition and impaired performance in activities of daily living. Similar to statistics in the US, the prevalence of cognitive impairment in Taipei nursing home residents was much higher than that observed in the community elderly and probably in Taiwan as well. Therefore, public health care policy for cognitively impaired elderly in Taiwan should not simply rely on data from community studies.
Wu
S C
SC
Institute of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, ROC.
Ke
D
D
Su
T L
TL
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006707:Homes for the Aged / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018579:Patient Selection; D015995:Prevalence; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011788:Quality of Life; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012494:Sampling Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology