| |
| |
| |
Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
 | |
|
| Influence of education and depressive symptoms on cognitive function in the elderly | | Author(s) | Renata Avila, Marco Antonio Aparício Moscosa, Salma Ribeiz |
| Journal title | International Psychogeriatrics, vol 21, no 3, June 2009 |
| Pages | pp 560-567 |
| Keywords | Cognitive processes ; Educational status [elderly] ; Depression ; Symptoms ; Assessment procedures for mental patients ; Brazil. |
| Annotation | This study was conducted at the Institute of Psychiatry, University of Sao Paulo School of Medicine, Hospital das Clínicas. All of the individuals evaluated were aged 60 or older. The study sample consisted of 59 outpatients with depressive disorders and 51 healthy controls. The sample was stratified by level of education: low = 1-4 years of schooling; high = 5 or more years of schooling. Evaluations consisted of psychiatric assessment, cognitive assessment, laboratory tests and cerebral magnetic resonance imaging. The researchers found that level of education influenced all the measures of cognitive domains investigated (intellectual efficiency, processing speed, attention, executive function and memory) except the Digit Span Forward and Fuld Object Memory Evaluation (immediate and delayed recall), whereas depressive symptoms influenced some measures of memory, attention, executive function and processing speed. Although the combination of a low level of education and depression had a significant negative influence on Stroop Test part B, Trail Making Test part B and Logical Memory (immediate recall), no other significant effects of the interaction between level of education and depression was found. The results of this study underscore the importance of considering the level of education in the analysis of cognitive performance in depressed older patients, as well as the relevance of developing new cognitive function tests in which level of education has a reduced impact on the results. (KJ/RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-090616223 A |
| Classmark | DA: F:V: ENR: CT: DA:4C: 7W6 |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
|
| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
| |
|
|