Evaluation of the cognitive function of a hospitalized elderly population

Abstract

Objectives: Evaluation of level of consciousness and cognitive
function in an elderly population admitted in an internal medicine department.
Methods: One hundred and fifty patients older than 65 years
were studied, 88 males and 62 females, using the Mini-Mental State Examination.
Results: The number of male patients was higher than female
patients (57.5% vs 42.5%). We found an elevated average age
with 56.6% of patients in the 8th decade of life and 23.3% of
patients older than 80 years. Sixty one percent of patients were
illiterate. We detected a low or very low score correlated with the
presence of dementia in 44% of patients included in this study.
This incidence was higher in female (51.6%) than male patients (40.9%).
Conclusions: This study shows that most patients admitted in
an internal medicine department are illiterate, elderly, with loss
of cognitive function and completely dependent. Dementia is a
serious problem of public health and economic issues of modern
societies.