| |
Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
 | |
|
| Additive effects of cognitive function and depressive symptoms on mortality in elderly community living adults | | Author(s) | Kala M Mehta, Kristine Yaffe, Kenneth M Langa |
| Journal title | Journals of Gerontology: Series A, Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, vol 58A, no 5, May 2003 |
| Pages | pp 461-467 |
| Keywords | Cognitive processes ; Cognitive impairment ; Depression ; Symptoms ; Death ; Living in the community ; Correlation ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | Poor cognitive function and depressive symptoms are common in older people, frequently coexist, and are interrelated. This study examined whether the combination of varying levels of cognitive function and depressive symptoms affect the risk of mortality in community-living older people. The authors studied 6301 older people (mean age 77, 62% women, 81% white) enrolled in the Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD) study, a prospective study of community-living Americans conducted from 1993 to 1995. Cognitive function and depressive symptoms were measured using two validated measures developed for the AHEAD study. During the 2 years of follow-up, 548 (9%) of the participants died. Together, cognitive function and depressive symptoms differentiated between older people at markedly different risk for mortality. For each level of cognitive function, more depressive symptoms were associated with higher mortality rates, and for each level of depressive symptoms, worse cognitive function was associated with higher mortality rates. The two risk factors can be used together to stratify older people into groups with significantly different rates of death, in a progressive, additive manner suggested at the study's outset. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-030612202 A |
| Classmark | DA: E4: ENR: CT: CW: K4: 49: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
|
| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
| |
|