Perfil cognitivo de idosos jovens e longevos - um estudo comparativo

Abstract

Introduction: Aging is marked by several changes, an important change that occurs in this process is cognitive change. More and more research is showing that the aging process is a heterogeneous experience, lived as an individual experience, and is affected by variables such as gender, genetic inheritance, and lifestyle. Objective: To compare the cognitive profile of socially and physically active younger older-adults and oldest-old people. Methodology: This dissertation is a cross-sectional, descriptive, analytical study with a quantitative approach. The study population was younger older-adults (60-79) and oldest-old (80 or more) people. The sample was seniors participating of outreach activities, including physical activity, at Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil. A sociodemographic and health questionnaire was conducted that also assessed weekly activities and the elderly's satisfaction with family functionality. Three instruments were used to evaluate the cognitive profile of the participants: Mini Mental State Examination for mental state, the Reduced Geriatric Depression Scale for depressive symptoms, and two subtests of the Wechsler Abbreviated Intelligence Scale to assess Fluent and Crisp Intelligence, respectively the subtests: Matrix Reasoning and Vocabulary. The performance of the instruments was compared between the two groups of elderly people and between sociodemographic characteristics. Results: 135 participants were evaluated, including 111 young older-adults and 24 oldest-old. No significant differences were found in cognitive assessments between the two groups of elderly people surveyed. As for the performance in the MMSE, they were significant for both young and long-lived elderly, schooling, self-perceived health, and reading activity. In the Vocabulary subtest, schooling and number of depressive symptoms were significant for both groups. In the Matrix Reasoning subtest, hearing, reading activity, difficulty in expressing thoughts, in addition to forgetting what you should do were significant. For the estimated IQ, schooling and difficulty in expressing thoughts were significant in both groups. Conclusion: There was no significant difference in the performance of physically active young and longevous elderly. We conclude that a good educational level, low prevalence of depressive symptoms, good self-perception of health and regular physical activity practice were important variables in maintaining a good cognitive level in both young and longevous elderly. the variable that was most related to cognitive performance was schooling. Schooling remained significant regardless of other variables.