title: Level of cognitive impairment predicts mortality in high-risk community samples: the memory and medical care study.
abstract: Over the course of 3 years, the authors investigated the relationship between severity of cognitive impairment and mortality in a community sample of 498 elders at high risk for cognitive impairment. Subjects were classified as having no cognitive disorder, mild cognitive impairment, or dementia, based on a validated battery of four neuropsychological tests. Severity of impairment was based on Mini-Mental State Examination scores. Additional data were obtained from subjects' knowledgeable informants and Medicare records. Kaplan-Meier survival estimates and Cox hazard proportion analysis of the sample revealed that presence of cognitive impairment increases mortality in a fashion that parallels the severity of the impairment.
authors.affiliation: The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 550 N. Broadway, Suite 308, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA. Hochang@jhmi.edu
authors.forename: Hochang B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Judy D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Kasper
authors.forename: Andrew D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Shore
authors.forename: Jessica L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Yokley
authors.forename: Betty S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Black
authors.forename: Peter V
authors.initials: PV
authors.lastname: Rabins
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003704:Dementia / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D006278:Medicare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008609:Mental Status Schedule / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012189:Retrospective Studies