Cognitive assessment of elderly people in outpatient care

Bruna Zortea; Daiane Porto Gautério-Abreu; Silvana Sidney Costa Santos; Bárbara Tarouco da Silva; Silomar Ilha; Vânia Dias Cruz

doi:10.15253/2175-6783.2015000100016

Authors

Bruna Zortea Universidade Federal do Rio Grande.
Daiane Porto Gautério-Abreu Universidade Federal do Rio Grande.
Silvana Sidney Costa Santos Universidade Federal do Rio Grande.
Bárbara Tarouco da Silva Universidade Federal do Rio Grande.
Silomar Ilha Universidade Federal do Rio Grande.
Vânia Dias Cruz Universidade Federal do Rio Grande.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15253/2175-6783.2015000100016

Keywords:

Aged, Evaluation, Cognition, Drug Utilization, Nursing.

Abstract

Objective: to evaluate the cognitive state of elderly people under outpatient care; investigate the association between the cognitive state and the socio-demographic variables, health conditions, number of medications and adhesion to the treatment. Methods: this is a cross-sectional, exploratory, and descriptive study, with a quantitative approach, conducted with 107 elderly people undergoing outpatient care in a university hospital in the south of Brazil. The following variables were used: gender, age, marital status, income, schooling, occupation, preexisting noncommunicable diseases, number and type of prescribed medications, adhesion, mini mental state examination and cognitive status. Data were analyzed through inferential and descriptive statistics. Results: The prevalence of cognitive deficit was of 42.1% and had a statistically significant connection with schooling, income, marital status, hypertension and cardiopathy. Conclusion: nurses can intervene to avoid the increase of cognitive deficit through an assessment of the elderly people, directed to facilitative strategies to soften this deficit.