J Korean Geriatr Psychiatry.  1998 Nov;2(2):176-186.

Epidemiologic Study of Cognitive Impairment and Depressive Symptoms of the Elderly in a Korean Rural Community

• Oh BH
• Kim HS
• Kim JH
• Cho HS
• Cho KH
• Cho HS
• Yoo KJ

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
Elderly Dementia and depression are major neuropsychiatric disorders. Epidemiologic study considered essential part to evaluate and treatment guideline for community mental health. METHOD: The cross-sectional study evaluates the dementia and depression of community- living elderly, over 65 older in a Korean rural community. Mini-Mental State Examination- Korean (MMSE-K) and Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) was conducted.
RESULTS
The prevalence of dementia is 14.0% below the 17 of MMSE-K score. Cognitive function decline is increasing with age. The prevalence of dementia in female elderly is higher than that in male with statistical significance (p<.001). The prevalence of depression is 10% among elderly population. Female elderly have higher frequency than male with statistical significance.
CONCLUSION
Elderly dementia and depression is very important neuropsychiatric disorders. MMSE-K and GDS-K is useful instruments for evaluation of elderly dementia and depression. Age and sex are important factors for dementia and depression. More developed instruments for accurate detection and differentiation of dementia and depression are need for mental health program to manage effectively them.

Keyword

Elderly; Epidemiology; Cognitive impairment; MMSE-K; Depressive symptoms; GDS

MeSH Terms

Aged*
Cross-Sectional Studies
Dementia
Depression*
Epidemiologic Studies*
Epidemiology
Female
Humans
Male
Mental Health
Prevalence
Rural Population*