Patterns of cognitive performance in old adult community sample from Nigeria

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundPatterns of cognitive impairments were studied in old adult sample in a view to understanding the roles of modifiable risk factors on cognition.MethodTwo hundred participants (115 males; age: 60‐74) were recruited. Domains of cognitive performance were measured with the UDS Version 3.ResultResult showed significant difference between diabetic (DG) and non‐diabetic (NDG) groups on Craft Story immediate, Benson recognition, category fluency animal and total category score with DG performing significantly better than NDG. Significant differences were found between hypertensive (HG) and non‐hypertensive (NHG) groups on number span forward Total correct and number span forward Length of correct. On the other hand, we showed significant interaction of depression and dementia history on Benson design recognition with participants that reported depression and history of dementia performing significantly worse than other groups. Depressive group (DPG) differed significantly from non‐depressive group (NDPG) on category fluency animal and total category fluency. Significant interaction effects were found on depression and history of dementia on category fluency (animal and vegetable) and total category score with participants reporting depression and positive history of dementia performing significantly worse on the measures. However, participants reporting history of dementia performed significantly better than non‐history participants on MoCA test. Further, we showed significant differences among 3 divisions of occupation: skilled (SK), semi skilled (SMK) and unskilled (USK) on craft story immediate (: SK = 25.79; SMK = 19.23; USK = 24.77), delayed (: SK = 20.27; SMK = 14.84; USK = 19.72), number span forward (total correct and length of correct), number span backward (total correct, length of correct and total aggregate score) with skilled occupation performing significantly better that the other two. The same were found for category fluency (animal and vegetable) and Control Oral Word Association Test.ConclusionOur findings suggest the important roles of diabetes, occupation and interaction of depression and dementia history on some domains of cognitive performance and the need to modify these variables for healthy cognition in old adults.