Prevalence of Cognitive Impairment and Depressive Symptomatology of the Elderly in a Long-term Institution

Cho, Maeng Je; Hahm, Bong Jin; Rhi, Bou Yong; Kim, Seong Yoon; Shin, Young Min; Lee, Chang In

Abstract

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 = 23 and 26.1% by SPMSQ < or = 6. The prevalence of relatively definite cognitive impairment defined by MMSE-K < or = 19 was 25.5%, which was similar to the result achieved by using SPMSQ < or = 6. The prevalence of depressive symptomatology was estimated as 19% by SGDS > 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.