RESUMEN
OBJECTIVES: This study was to investigate the prevalence of cognitive impairment and depressive symptomatology among the long-term institutionalized elderly people. METHODS: Mini-Mental state Examination-Korean version(MMSE-K), short portable Mental State Questionnaire(SPMSQ), Short version of Geriatric Depression Scale(SGDS), and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression(CES-D) were administered to 169 elderly residents in an institution, 'Got Dong Rae'. RESULTS: One hundred fifty-three(males=72, females=79, and missing=2) completed the entire examination. Age ranged from 60 to 102 years and the mean of age was 74.17+/-8.27(males 71.76+/-8.14,females 76.14+/-7.78)years. Duration of education ranged from 0 to 16 years and the mean of duration of education was 3.04+/-3.93(males 4.13+/-4.23,females 2.01+/-3.38)years. The prevalence of cognitive impairment was estimated as 56.2% by MMSE-K or = 10 and 23.5% by CES-D > or = 25. In the case of using SGDS > or = 8 as cutoff-point to screen mild as well as severe depressive symptomatology, the prevalence was 39.2%. It was identical to the result achieved by using CES-D > or = 20. Significant correlations were observed between MMSE-K and SPMSQ, between SGDS and CES-D, between MMSE-K and CES-D, between MMSE-K and SGDS, and between SPMSQ and SGDS. CONCLUSION: The prevalences of cognitive impairment and depressive symptomatology were high in institutionalized elderly people. This results suggests that more intensive mental health care in needed for long-term institutionalized elderly people.