Temporal orientation in a national community sample of older people

To investigate how often older people know the correct answers to questions about time orientation (knowledge of the day, date, month and year), and what factors might affect performance with these.

Data were analysed from the British 2000 National Psychiatric Morbidity Study. In the original survey, 2007 people aged 60 years or older had been asked orientation questions as part of the modified Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICSm). Using this data we calculated error rates for orientation to date, day of the week, month and year. Associations between performance on these questions and other covariates (sociodemographic factors, estimated verbal IQ, education, common mental disorder (CMD), employment and disability) were further explored using logistic regression.

Overall 19.9% of the sample did not know the correct date. Orientation errors for day, month and year were substantially lower (2.4, 1.9 and 1.0% respectively). After adjustment, increased age and lower verbal IQ remained significantly associated with date orientation errors.

A significant proportion of older people in the community did not know the correct date, particularly those with lower background education. This should be borne in mind by clinicians in brief assessments of cognitive function. Other deficits in time orientation, however, were less common and not consistently education-dependent.