COMMITMENT AND COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS OF HOSPITALIZED ELDERLY PEOPLE AND THE RURAL COMMUNITY: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Abstract

Introduction: Cognitive Impairment is a pre-dementia clinical syndrome that commonly affects elderly people, with the hospitalization process as a risk factor. Objective: to compare the prevalence of suggestive Cognitive Impairment and cognitive functions in hospitalized elderly people and in the rural community. Method: cross-sectional study, developed with elderly people from the rural community (CR) (n=71) and hospitalized (H) (n=270). The approach to the community was at home, and for inpatients at the bedside, through a sociodemographic and health questionnaire, and the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE). Chi-Square and Mann-Whitney tests were performed. Results: The prevalence of Cognitive Impairment in hospitalized patients was 62.6% and in the rural community 35.9%. Hospitalized patients had 1.71 (95%CI = 1.36 – 2.15) times more risk of cognitive impairment than those in the rural community (p<0.001). Participants from the rural community had a significantly higher mean final score on the MMSE (CR=23.60; H=21.4; p=0.002) and in the temporal orientation domains (CR=4.32; H=3.68 p< 0.001), attention and calculation (CR=2.48; H=1.84 p=0.001), recall memory (CR=2.17; H=1.58 p<0.001), and when asked to write a sentence complete (CR=0.53; H=0.46 p=0.049). Conclusion: elderly people from the rural community had a lower prevalence of suggestive Cognitive Impairment when compared to those hospitalized, as well as better performance in performing the functions of temporal orientation, attention and language.