Christensen H, Jorm A F, Henderson A S, Mackinnon A J, Korten A E, Scott L R
NH and MRC Social Psychiatry Research Unit, Australian National University, Canberra.
Age Ageing. 1994 May;23(3):204-12. doi: 10.1093/ageing/23.3.204.
The association between health status and cognitive performance was examined in a sample of 708 community dwelling elderly people aged 70 years or over. Cognitive performance declined significantly across the age groups 70-74, 75-79, 80-84, and 85-89 years on the Mini-Mental State Examination and on measures of fluid intelligence and memory, but not on measures of crystallized intelligence. Health status declined significantly across age for five of 49 past and current medical conditions, for measures of Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and for systolic blood pressure, but did not decline significantly for global self-ratings of health, diastolic blood pressure or reports of smoking. Weak but significant correlations between health and cognitive performance were found for self-reported global ratings of health and for self-reports of some physical symptoms but not for diastolic or systolic blood pressure, or for many other physical conditions. Both self- and informant-based ratings of ADL correlated with cognitive performance. Age differences remained after cognitive performance was adjusted for health variables such as ADL, self-ratings of health and current health problems. It is concluded that, at the population level, lower levels of cognitive performance in community-dwelling elderly subjects are not strongly mediated by ill health.
在708名年龄在70岁及以上的社区居住老年人样本中，研究了健康状况与认知能力之间的关联。在简易精神状态检查表、流体智力和记忆力测试中，70 - 74岁、75 - 79岁、80 - 84岁和85 - 89岁年龄组的认知能力显著下降，但在晶体智力测试中未出现下降。在49种过去和当前的医疗状况中，有5种状况的健康状况随年龄显著下降，日常生活活动能力（ADL）指标和收缩压也随年龄显著下降，但健康的总体自评、舒张压或吸烟报告未出现显著下降。在健康的总体自评以及一些身体症状的自我报告方面，发现健康状况与认知能力之间存在微弱但显著的相关性，但舒张压或收缩压以及许多其他身体状况与认知能力之间不存在显著相关性。基于自我和他人报告的ADL评分均与认知能力相关。在对ADL、健康自评和当前健康问题等健康变量进行认知能力调整后，年龄差异依然存在。研究得出结论，在人群层面，社区居住老年受试者认知能力较低并非主要由健康状况不佳所致。
