COGNITIVE FUNCTION IN COMMUNITY-DWELLING ELDERLY WITH CHRONIC MEDICALCONDITIONS

Objectives. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of chronic medical conditions on cognitive function in a sample of community-dwe lling elderly (N = 4528). Methods. A checklist of 18 chronic medical c onditions was used to determine whether respondents were suffering fro m specific disease states. The Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE) w as administered to assess cognitive functioning. Results. Statisticall y controlling for the effects of age, education and depression, respon dents with asthma/bronchitis and stroke had a tendency to perform wors e on the MMSE than those without these conditions. None of the 18 medi cal conditions was associated with a greater proportion of respondents scoring below the cutoff for cognitive dysfunction. Conclusion. It ap pears that-with the possible exception of stroke and asthma/bronchitis -cognitive function in community-dwelling elderly is not consistently affected by specific disease states. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.