Cognitive Impairment Among Older Adults in Chile: Evidence from the National Health Survey (ENS 2016-2017)

Objective: Analysis of cognitive impairment in the elderly by age, sex and self-perception of memory using the National Health Survey (ENS 2016-2017). Material and Method: Analytical cross-sectional study. The data comes from the National Health Survey (ENS 2016-2017). A n = 2,030 adults over 60 years of age are included. Variables such as age, sex, self-perception of memory and cognitive ability measured with the "Mini-Mental" Test were considered. A Pearson correlation was made between the results of the Mini-Mental and age by sex and by level of self-perception of memory and Spearman's correlation between age and level of self-perception. A Logistic Regression analysis considered a binary variable due to suspicion of cognitive impairment (CD) and predictors, age, level of self-perception of memory, and sex. Results: The evaluation was completed by 63.69% (n = 1,293) women and 36.31% (n = 737) men. The mean age was 71.02 +/- 7.9 years. Age was significantly higher in the group with suspected DC (p=0.00). While Age and negative self-perception independently increase the risk of DC (OR= 1.1027 CI95%; 1.0392-1.1719 and OR = 1.4974 CI95%; 0.4091-5.5725) respectively. Conclusion: A significant percentage of older adults reported a fair to poor (self-perceived) memory. Age was the most significant variable in relation to the suspicion of CD. In other words, the older the age, the greater the cognitive deterioration without significant differences by sex. However, women presented less cognitive impairment.