Prevalence of Chronic Diseases by Cognitive Function Level and Age Group Among Middle-Aged and Older Korean Adults

This study aimed to investigate the age-dependent association between new cognitive classification and chronic diseases among middle-aged and older adults using Poisson regression analysis.

We included 6940 people from the 2018 Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging. Cognitive status was classified as normal, moderate, and severe based on the participants' Korean Mini-Mental State Examination scores and instrumental activities of daily living. Poisson regression analysis was performed to predict the number of chronic diseases in middle-aged and older adults with grade three cognitive status. The number of predicted events at each cognitive level was calculated according to age.

In the normal cognitive group, most of the participants were females 2515 (54.03), and the average age was 66.50 (SD = 8.62). Compared to the normal cognitive group (n = 4665), the incidence of chronic disease in the moderate cognitive impairment group (n = 1316) was 0.07 times that of the normal group, whereas, in the severe cognitive impairment group (n = 420), it was 0.21 times that of the normal group.

Higher levels of cognitive impairment and older age were associated with a higher probability of having multiple chronic conditions. The study findings highlight the importance of integrative care with cognitive function and age in managing multiple chronic conditions.