Abstract
to analyze the effects of health education on both cognition and depressive/anxiety symptoms in the elderly with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). this is a randomized and controlled clinical trial. Participants (n=22) were recruited from a specialized outpatient clinic, and assigned into two groups: a Health Education Group (HEG) (n=10) and a Control Group (CG) (n=12). The participants were evaluated before and after the intervention, which was composed of classes and dynamics. The intervention consisted of 20 meetings, over a period of five months. The assessment was performed by means of the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination - Revised (ACER), the Mini-Mental State Examination to access participant's cognitive state, and the Beck's Scale to access depressive/anxiety symptoms. A Memory Complaints Scale (EQM) was also used. The analysis was carried out using the Student's t test for paired samples. the HEG group demonstrated an improvement in attention/orientation (p= 0,026), memory (p=0.001), language (p= 0.033), and ACE-R (p= 0.003). On the other hand, the CG did not present improvement. the results highlight the importance of non-pharmacological interventions in older adults with MCI to reduce cognitive deficits.
Highlights
Demographic data obtained from the 2010 Census show that the Brazilian population is made up of 190,755,799 habitants
The majority of the participants were female for both groups (HEG = 70%; Control Group (CG) = 75%), married (HEG = 80%; CG = 58.3%), with a mean age of 68 and 77 years for the Health Education Group (HEG) and CG, respectively
It was observed that each subject had a mean of three diagnosed diseases, and took, on average, between two and three medicines per day, which follows the pattern of another national study[25]
Summary
Demographic data obtained from the 2010 Census show that the Brazilian population is made up of 190,755,799 habitants. This represents a growth of 12.3% when compared to the 2000 Census. The proportion of older adults aged 65 or more increased in the same period: from 5.9% in 2000, to 7.4%, in 2010. Projections suggest an increase of 12.9% in the elderly population by 2020(1). In parallel to the demographic transition process, Brazil has been facing an epidemiological transition process. Associated with the aging process, it is possible to notice the high prevalence of chronic diseases, such as dementia and its consequences (i.e., cognitive impairment and loss of autonomy)(2)
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