title: The prevalence of cognitive impairment among African-American patients with congestive heart failure.
abstract: This cross-sectional study sought to determine the prevalence of cognitive impairment among African-American patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). We studied 100 African-American CHF patients (aged 55-87 years) in New York Heart Association classes II-IV, who are enrolled in an ongoing, randomized, controlled trial, evaluating the effectiveness of a telemonitoring intervention to improve access to ambulatory care for heart failure patients. These CHF patients were recruited from an inner-city practice, rural physician practices and an urban physician practice in Atlanta. The Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) was used to measure cognition. Cognitive impairment was defined as a MMSE score of less than 24. The crude prevalence of cognitive impairment was 10% in this population of African Americans with CHF. The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated an increase in odds of cognitive impairment with increasing age [odds ratio (OR) = 1.10 and 95% confidence interval, 1.00-1.20; p=0.042]. There was no significant relationship between cognitive impairment and gender, education status, depression and severity of CHF. This study indicates that cognitive impairment is relatively prevalent among African Americans with CHF, but lower than previously reported among Caucasians with CHF.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Clinical Research Center, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30310, USA. akomola@msm.edu
authors.forename: Abimbola
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Akomolafe
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Quarshie
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.forename: Jerome
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Orlando
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Deffer
authors.forename: Adefisayo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oduwole
authors.forename: Anekwe
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Onwuanyi
authors.forename: Rigobert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lapu-Bula
authors.forename: Gregory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Strayhorn
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ofili
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mayberry
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution