The survey of cognitive impairment in elderly Thai people : national survey 2008

Abstract

Objective To assess the prevalence and socioeconomic factors related to cognitive impairment among elderly Thai people.

Materials and methods Participants were 3,441 elderly Thai people (male=1,702 and female=1,739) in four regions of Thailand including Bangkok. Randomized stratified three-stage cluster sampling method was used to select the study subjects. Data collection was gathered by
two steps. The first step, the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Structure Interview (M.I.N.I.) was used for screening a current depressive disorder. The last step, participants who had suffered from the depressive disorder were excluded form the study after that the subjects were assessed by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE-Thai2002). Data were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis.

Results The age of elderly range was between 60 to 96 years, 68 years of average age (SD = 6.16). The cognitive impairment rate accounted for 4% by assessment with the MMSE-Thai2002. Most of them were female (51.5%) and living in northern region (25.7%). Socio-economic data showed that most of them married (52%), educated at least a primary school level (58.1%). The factors associated with cognitive impairment in the elderly were age more than 80 years old which have to risk more 4.24 times than the ageing had 60-69 years. Also, the aged over 60 who were marital statuses with widow divorced or separated had been greater risk 1.75 times than who were got married. Moreover, the older over 60 years who was unemployment had been high risk 2.39 times than who were employments.
 
Conclusion The Thai elderly who might suffer from cognitive impairment accounted for 4% which associated with the aged over 80 years, marital status and unemployment.