[Mini-mental state examination in community-dwelling elderly: preliminary data from Santo Antônio de Pádua, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil].
OBJECTIVE
To define mini-mental state examination (MMSE) global scores, by age and education in elderly in Santo Antônio de Pádua, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.


METHODS
Elderly > 65 years-old (n=341; m=109, f=232) responded to MMSE. Sample was divided by age and education: young old (65-84 years)/oldest old (>85 years), illiterates, low/medium schooling. MMSE scores were compared using t test of Student, Mann-Whitney and Tukey (p<0.05).


RESULTS
Young and oldest old's mean age were 73.13 5.27; 88.00 4.90, respectively. Young old MMSE score was 19.91 5.35 and oldest old was 16.90 4.96. There was a significant difference between the groups (p=0.01). Illiterate and educated elderly scored 17.08 4.42 and 22.34 4.94, respectively (p<0.0001). Illiterate and educated young old (age=73.61 +/- 5.26; 72.67 +/- 5.26) scored 17.29 +/- 4.40 and 22.42 +/- 4.98, respectively. MMSE shows significant difference between groups of young old (p<0.0001). MMSE of illiterate and educated oldest old (age=86.50 +/- 1.09; 90.25 +/- 7.34) were 14.33 +/- 3.89 and 20.75 +/- 3.85, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Schooling and age influence on MMSE. These results do not compare with those of developed countries taking education as a variable.
Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro, Campinas, SP, Brasil. jersonlk@iis.com.br
Jerson
J
Laks
Elienai Maria Rubim
EM
Batista
Elza Rocha Lima
ER
Guilherme
Ana L cia Barros
AL
Contino
Maria Eliete Vieira
ME
Faria
Ivan
I
Figueira
Eliasz
E
Engelhardt
D017677:Age Distribution; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D010054:Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004522:Educational Status; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening; D015995:Prevalence; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric