title: Cognitive impairment in old people living in the community.
abstract: Cognitive impairment has a high prevalence in the elderly, especially in the oldest old, and it is a major concern for autonomous old people living in the community and their families. Any possible intervention will benefit from early detection of cognitive decline related signs. The Portuguese version of the mini-mental state examination (MMSE) was used to assess cognitive impairment in a sample of 1266 old community-dwellers in Portugal, mean age 70.3+/-8.7 years. A standard questionnaire was also used including measures on social network, psychological distress, functionality, perceived health status, and socio-demographic variables. We recorded education levels and illiteracy by using different cut points to select people with and without cognitive impairment and results showed a 9.6% prevalence of positive cases. In general, cognitive impairment is higher in women, older people, widows(ers), and people with negative self-perception of health and with difficulties in basic and in instrumental activities of daily living (ADL and IADL). Cognitive impairment was found to be predicted by gender, age and psychological distress, explaining 18% of variance. Findings are discussed considering available literature and possible interventions for community residents.
authors.affiliation: Research Unit on Ageing (UNIFAI), ICBAS, Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar, University of Porto, Largo Prof. Abel Salazar, 2, 4099-003 Porto, Portugal. paul@icbas.up.pt
authors.forename: Constança
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Paúl
authors.forename: Oscar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ribeiro
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Santos
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011174:Portugal / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012649:Self Concept; D012737:Sex Factors; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017805:Widowhood