title: Relationship of Cognitive Functions with Daily Living Activities, Depression, Anxiety and Clinical Variables in Hospitalized Elderly Patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cognitive impairment in elderly patients, which may be a sign of dementia, depression, anxiety or medical diseases, has been determined as a risk factor for functional loss. In this study, we aimed to investigate the frequency of cognitive impairment and to investigate the relationship of cognitive status with sociodemographic variables, daily living activities, anxiety and depression in elderly inpatients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The sample of this cross-sectional and descriptive study consists of 243 patients aged 65 years and older who were hospitalized in Bülent Ecevit University Hospital. A sociodemographic questionnaire,, the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Activities of Daily Living Scale, Lawton-Brody Instrumental Daily Activities Scale, Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and the Beck Anxiety Inventory were used for data collection.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred and six (43.6%) patients were female and 137 (56.4%) were male. The patients were divided into two groups according to the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) 23/24 cut-off score. The cognitive decline was statistically significantly more frequent in patients who were older, female, less educated, low socioeconomic status, and living in rural areas. There were more problems in the basic and instrumental activities of daily living and nutrition in patients with cognitive decline. Anxiety and depression scores were higher in this group. In our study, although the frequency of cognitive decline and depression according to GDS were 56% and 48%, respectively; we found that only 10.5% of patients applied to the psychiatrist, and 9.3% of patients received psychiatric treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Cognitive decline may cause deterioration in the daily living activities, nutrition and capacity for independent functioning. Older age, female, low education, low socioeconomic status and living in rural area are important risk factors for cognitive impairment. Cognitive decline in older age may be associated with depression and anxiety. We assume that when cognitive decline, depression and other psychiatric problems are unidentified, it may contribute to deterioration of mental health in medically ill elderly.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Bülent Ecevit University Faculty of Medicine, Zonguldak, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ayşe Semra
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Demir Akça
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Bülent Ecevit University Faculty of Medicine, Zonguldak, Turkey.
authors.forename: Özge
authors.initials: Ö
authors.lastname: Saraçli
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Bülent Ecevit University Faculty of Medicine, Zonguldak, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ufuk
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Emre
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Bülent Ecevit University Faculty of Medicine, Zonguldak, Turkey.
authors.forename: Nuray
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Atasoy
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Neurology, Zonguldak Atatürk State Hospital, Zonguldak, Turkey.
authors.forename: Serdar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Güdül
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Bülent Ecevit University Faculty of Medicine, Zonguldak, Turkey.
authors.forename: Banu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Özen Barut
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Bülent Ecevit University Faculty of Medicine, Zonguldak, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ömer
authors.initials: Ö
authors.lastname: Şenormanci
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, Bülent Ecevit University Faculty of Medicine, Zonguldak, Turkey.
authors.forename: M Çağatay
authors.initials: MÇ
authors.lastname: Büyükuysal
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Bülent Ecevit University Faculty of Medicine, Zonguldak, Turkey.
authors.forename: Levent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Atik
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Bülent Ecevit University Faculty of Medicine, Zonguldak, Turkey.
authors.forename: H Tuğrul
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Atasoy
keywords: Elderly; activities of daily living; cognitive disorder; depression