Factors Associated with Cognitive and Functional Performance in Indigenous Older Adults of Nariño, Colombia

Ethnicity in Latin America is a factor of poverty and social exclusion. Like in developed countries, demographic, medical, psychosocial, global cognitive, and functional variables interact in a complex relationship on the elderly population. Such interaction should be considered to determine cognitive and functional performance using screening tests. The aim of this study was to evaluate the demographic, medical, and psychosocial factors affecting global cognitive performance as well as functional activities.

The study was conducted in a Colombian elderly indigenous population which included a sample of 518 adults. This research employed a structural model of latent factors to assess the effects of demographic, medical, and psychosocial factors on cognitive and functional performance. The model was estimated by least squares and used a maximum-likelihood procedure, and it was determined RMSEA, TLI, and CFI to assess the model's goodness of fit. The categorical variables used in the model were as follows: (1) demographics, (2) psychosocial factors, (3) medical condition, (4) global cognition, and (5) functional factors.

Demographics, in addition to medical and psychosocial factors, were related to global cognition and functional factors (RMSEA = 0.051, CI 90% 0.045-0.057, CFI = 0.901, and TLI = 0.881).

These results provide strong evidence about the complex relationships among demographics, medical conditions, and psychosocial factors and their influence on global cognition and functional performance in Colombian indigenous elderly population.