Prevalence of Cognitive Impairment and Depressive Symptoms among the Elderly in an Urban Community / 신경정신의학

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: This study was to investigate the prevalence of cognitive impairment and depressive symptoms among the elderly in an urban community. METHODS: Korean version of Mini-Mental State Examination(MMSE-K), Short version of Geriatric Depression Scale(SGDS), and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression(CES-D) were administered to 447 elderly persons(37.7% of all residents aged 65 and older) who resided in "Sanggye 10 Dong" by lay interviewers. Then a Psychiatrist and two Psychiatric residents interviewed the elderly scoring 23 or less on MMSE-K and diagnosed with dementia according to the criteria of DSM-III-R. RESULTS: The prevalence of cognitive impairment was estimated as 37.1%(male 18.8%, female 47.0%) by MMSE-Kor=25 and 15.8% by SGDS>or=10. Prevalences(CES-D>or=25) for the age groups 65 to 69, 70 to 74, 75 to 79, 80 to 84, and over 85 were, respectively 15.7%, 18.1%, 23.4%, 13.3%, and 23.5%. Caseness of depressive symptoms(CES-D >or= 25) was not related to sex, age, years of education, marital status, physical illness, occupation, living condition, and financial status. Of 166 persons who had cognitive impairment(MMSE-Kpersons underwent diagnostic interview. Thirty-eight of 126 persons were diagnosed as dementia and the prevalence of dementia adjusted by sex and age group was estimated as 10.6%(male 5.5%, female 13.5%).

CONCLUSION:

Caseness of cognitive impairment was more prevalent and caseness of depressive symptoms was less prevalent than that of previous studies. These results may be attributable to methodological differences among studies such as sociocultural influences on accessment instruments and characteristics of sample and require further studies to confirm these findings.