Cognitive assessment of elderly people in outpatient care

Abstract

Objective: to evaluate the cognitive state of elderly people under outpatient care; investigate the association betweenthe cognitive state and the socio-demographic variables, health conditions, number of medications and adhesion to thetreatment. Methods: this is a cross-sectional, exploratory, and descriptive study, with a quantitative approach, conductedwith 107 elderly people undergoing outpatient care in a university hospital in the south of Brazil. The following variableswere used: gender, age, marital status, income, schooling, occupation, preexisting noncommunicable diseases, number andtype of prescribed medications, adhesion, mini mental state examination and cognitive status. Data were analyzed throughinferential and descriptive statistics. Results: The prevalence of cognitive deficit was of 42.1% and had a statisticallysignificant connection with schooling, income, marital status, hypertension and cardiopathy. Conclusion: nurses canintervene to avoid the increase of cognitive deficit through an assessment of the elderly people, directed to facilitativestrategies to soften this deficit.