Cognitive Assessment in Elderly Residents of Long-Stay Institutions

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the cognitive performance of institutionalized elderly in the city of Natal, state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. Methods: A descriptive, longitudinal study of 85 aged individuals via an interview conducted following the application of a classification form and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), with different cutoff points according to the level of education. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Universidad Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (164/2011). Results: The mean age of the elderly studied was 76.8 years, 48.3% were single and 62.0% women, with an average of 3.27 children and 3 years of schooling; cognitive losses were recorded over a 6-month period following the 1st assessment, declining from 18.8 to 16.9% at the 2nd assessment for the following items: orientation to space (p = 0.02), language (p = 0.02) and repetition (p = 0.01). Conclusion: The results show significant cognitive changes among elderly subjects, with 64.6% exhibiting cognitive impairment. The findings suggest systematic evaluations in elders as a mean to establish prevention measures for health losses, taking into account that the referred deficits are capable of causing damage in the everyday life of these elderly residents of institutions.

Beneficial effects of multisensory and cognitive stimulation in institutionalized elderly: 12-months follow-up

“…Regarding language abilities, a previous report 42 demonstrated that naming function was maintained among day-care patients in comparison to institutionalized patients, who displayed reduced performance at follow-up. Similar tendencies of cognitive decline were described in Brazilian samples of institutionalized persons 43 , 44 without regular activities, who had lower scores on the MMSE 43 or the MMSE and Boston naming test when compared with institutionalized active and noninstitutionalized groups. 44 …”

The Impact of Physical Environment on the Cognitive Function of the Elderly: A Scoping Review of Cohort Studies

“…Subsequently, the secondary evaluation improved slightly, but overall, the cognitive ability of residents of the facility was significantly reduced. 23…”

Instituições de Longa Permanência para Idosos no Brasil: revisão integrativa da literatura

“…Comparativamente, os idosos institucionalizados apresentam mais declínio cognitivo e sintomas depressivos em relação aos não institucionalizados (Borges, Rocha, Couto, & Mancini, 2013). Perdas cognitivas entre idosos institucionalizados, ajustadas segundo critérios de idade e escolaridade, também foram reportadas em outros estudos (Hartmann Junior, & Gomes, 2016;Lampert, & Rosso, 2015;Ferreira, Pinho, Pereira, & Ferreira, 2014;Medeiros, Alchieri, Azevedo, Varela de Oliveira, & Pereira, 2014).…”