Abstract
BackgroundAlthough cognitive impairment is common in the elderly population, studies investigating its rate in Hajj pilgrims are lacking.ObjectivesTo estimate the rate of cognitive impairment among a sample of Arabic-speaking elderly Hajj pilgrims and examine its association with their activities of daily living (ADL).MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted during the Hajj season 1438 Hijri Calendar (August 2017). Hajj pilgrims were recruited using a probability sampling method and were interviewed for demographics, the MINI-Cog and the ADL instrument.ResultsAmong the 340 recruited pilgrims, 99 (29.2%) had positive results in the MINI-Cog indicating probable cognitive impairment. In multivariate logistic regression, the educational level (odds ratio (OD) 0.456; 95% CI 0.346 to 0.598) and the need for help during Hajj (OD 0.581; 95% CI 0.342 to 0.984) were found significantly associated with positive MINI-Cog. Although no significant differences in the ADL were found between pilgrims with and without positive MINI-Cog, the scores of the ADL and the MINI-Cog were found to be positively correlated but weak (rs = 0.134, P = 0.013) indicating a possible association between better cognitive functions and better ADL performance.ConclusionProbable cognitive impairment among Arabic elderly Hajj pilgrims was found to be very common. Further diagnostic studies and studies on the impact of cognitive impairment on the performance of Hajj pilgrims are warranted.
Highlights
Worldwide, cognitive impairment and dementia are common [1]
Pilgrims were from the following countries, in alphabetical order, Algeria 7.4%, Bahrain 1.8%, Egypt 9.1%, Eritrea 4.1%, Iraq 6.2%, Jordan 6.5%, Kuwait 1.5%, Lebanon 6.8%, Libya 7.1%, Morocco 5.9%, Oman 4.1%, Palestine 7.4%, Saudi 1.8%, Sudan 5.9%, Syria 7.6%, Tunisia 7.9% and Yemen 9.1%
Almost half (46.8%) of the pilgrims came with their spouses, 21.5% came alone, 21.5% came with their children, 11.2% with their siblings and 7.4% came with their friends
Summary
Cognitive impairment and dementia are common [1]. There are more than 9.9 million new cases of dementia reported each year with an expected doubling each 20 years, reaching 131.5 million in 2050 [2]. Studies investigating the prevalence of cognitive impairment and dementia in the Middle East (ME) countries, where the majority speaks Arabic, are lacking [3]. Around 2 million Hajj pilgrims gather each year and have to perform sequential steps that require staying at different locations in Makkah city [9]. Those pilgrims have to be in good physical, psychological and cognitive health in order to perform Hajj properly [10,11,12]. Cognitive impairment is common in the elderly population, studies investigating its rate in Hajj pilgrims are lacking
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