Screening for cognitive impairment among the elderly attending the noncommunicable diseases clinics in a rural area of Punjab, North India

Background: Amongst all the ailments among the elderly persons, cognitive impairment has significant impact on the quality of life. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like diabetes and hypertension increase the risk of cognitive impairment and dementia. Little is known about the prevalence and correlates of cognitive impairment in elderly with NCDs. Aim: The present study aimed to evaluate the prevalence and correlates of cognitive impairment among elderly patients living with NCDs. Methodology: 297 patients attending the chronic disease clinic of two Community Health Centres were evaluated using Hindi mini-mental scale (HMSE), University of California Los Angeles Loneliness Scale (UCLA LS), Geriatric Depression Scale, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7 scale) and Vulnerability to Abuse Screening Scale. Results: More than one-fourth (27.3 %) of participants had cognitive impairment as per the HMSE scores. The mean HMSE score was lowest (23.90 +/- 6.61) among patients with hypertension followed by patients with diabetes alone (26.90 +/- 4.46). People with hypertension had lower mean scores on all the domains of HMSE. Multivariable binary logistic regression depicted younger age, high education status, per capita income, long duration of diseases, loneliness, and hypertension emerged as the significant risk factors associated with cognitive impairment. Conclusion: Older adults with non-communicable diseases have high prevalence of cognitive impairment. Physicians should make the patients and their family members aware about the association of non-communicable diseases with cognitive impairments and should encourage these persons to use remedial measures to reduce the risk of future development of dementia.