Correlates of cognitive dysfunction in an ambulatory elderly population

Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores were studied in an ambulatory elderly population to identify correlates with self-reported signs, symptoms, diseases, drugs and laboratory values. A total of 1,264 subjects were studied including 844 women and 420 men. In this study, 5.0% of men and 5.3% of women scored less than 24 on the MMSE. A linear-regression model revealed eleven factors of significance in predicting scores on the MMSE. The most important predictors were age (p less than 0.0001), self-reported memory loss (p less than 0.0001), complaints of swollen feet or ankles (p less than 0.0010), the total number of diseases reported (0.0006) and the serum lactate dehydrogenase concentration (p less than 0.0098). Results suggest that cognitive function in the elderly is not related to the general level of health or consistently affected by specific disease states.