Abstract
Detecting and monitoring cognitive deficits in elderly populations are necessary, as they can impact individuals´ functionality. This integrative review aims to analyze the scientific production on the use of cognitive assessment instruments in Brazilian elderly individuals through articles published in the last five years, indexed in the Web of Science, Pubmed, Scopus and Bireme databases. Inclusion criteria were original articles published in English and Portuguese from 2012 to 2016, the age criterion to define elderly individuals and scores higher than 6 in the adapted CASP. The exclusion criterion was conference abstracts submitted for publication. The final sample consisted of 100 articles. Sixty-one cognitive assessment instruments were used in the studies, especially the Mini-Mental State Examination. This review features the use of cognitive instruments in the Brazilian literature, their different versions and domains evaluated. The literature includes a large number of instruments. The most used tests were the MMSE (version proposed by Brucki et al.), the Verbal Fluency Test ("animal" category) and the Digit Span Memory Test (forward span and backward span). The findings presented in this review are relevant not only for observational and experimental research but also for clinical practice.
Highlights
Increasing life expectancy and aging of the Brazilian population, associated with their impacts, have been the focus of studies for years
The most used tests were the MiniMental State Examination (MMSE), the Verbal Fluency Test (“animal” category) and the Digit Span Memory Test
After defining the guiding question, the instruments were assessed for eligibility according to the following steps: 1) specification of inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria; 2) searches using the following Health Science Descriptors (DeCS) and Boolean operators: [“cognition” OR “dementia” AND “geriatric assessment”], in the Scopus, Bireme, Pubmed and Web of Science databases in November 2016; 3) pre-selection of articles by reading the titles and abstracts and excluding duplicates; 4) critical assessment of the articles after reading them in full; and 5) presentation and discussion of results
Summary
Increasing life expectancy and aging of the Brazilian population, associated with their impacts, have been the focus of studies for years. Some diseases have a higher prevalence in this age group, such as dementia. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia, which is coupled with severe debilitating cognitive deficits. In order ensure reliable detection and monitoring of cognitive deficit, information from family members/caregivers should be provided, and patients’ follow up, identification of clinical history and standardized tests should be performed. These tests may include imaging tests, biochemical exams and/or assessment instruments. The selection of a cognitive assessment instrument should be based on its reliability and whether its score results reflect the actual status of the patient without the influence of other factors, such as depressive symptoms, delirium, low level education or hearing impairment
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