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

Cho, Maeng Je; Hahm, Bong Jin; Jhoo, Jin Hyung; Bae, Jae Nam; Kwon, Jun Soo

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-KCONCLUSION
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.