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Influence of depression, anxiety and stress on cognitive performance in community‐dwelling older adults living in rural E cuador: Results of the A tahualpa P roject
Author(s) -
Del Brutto Oscar H,
Mera Robertino M,
Del Brutto Victor J,
Maestre Gladys E,
Gardener Hannah,
Zambrano Mauricio,
Wright Clinton B
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
geriatrics and gerontology international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1447-0594
pISSN - 1444-1586
DOI - 10.1111/ggi.12305
Subject(s) - anxiety , depression (economics) , gerontology , cognition , montreal cognitive assessment , population , medicine , demography , psychology , cognitive impairment , clinical psychology , psychiatry , environmental health , economics , macroeconomics , sociology
Aim To assess the relationship between cognitive status and self‐reported symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress of older adults living in an underserved rural South American population. Methods Community‐dwelling A tahualpa residents aged ≥60 years were identified during a door‐to‐door census, and evaluated with the D epression A nxiety S tress S cale‐21 ( DASS ‐21) and the M ontreal C ognitive A ssessment ( MoCA ). We explored whether positivity in each of the DASS ‐21 axes was related to total and domain‐specific MoCA performance after adjustment for age, sex and education. Results A total of 280 persons (59% women; mean age, mean age 70 ± 8 years) were included. Based on established cut‐offs for the DASS ‐21, 12% persons had depression, 15% had anxiety and 5% had stress. Mean total MoCA scores were significantly lower for depressed than for not depressed individuals (15.9 ± 5.5 vs 18.9 ± 4.4, P < 0.0001). Depressed participants had significantly lower total and domain‐specific MoCA scores for abstraction, short‐term memory and orientation. Anxiety was related to significantly lower total MoCA scores (17 ± 4.7 vs 18.8 ± 4.5, P = 0.02), but not to differences in domain‐specific MoCA scores. Stress was not associated with significant differences in MoCA scores. Conclusion The present study suggests that depression and anxiety are associated with poorer cognitive performance in elderly residents living in rural areas of developing countries. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2015; 15: 508–514.