Education attainment and nutritional status in the prevention of cognitive impairment in the hospitalized Chinese elderly.

Background: Effect of education attainment and nutritional status on the development of cognitive impairment in Chinese elderly has not been reported.

Objective: To investigate the role of education and nutrition in preventing cognitive impairment in the hospitalized Chinese elderly.

Methods: Cognitive function was examined using the scoring system of Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) domains performed under instruction of Physicians of Geriatrics. Generalized linear mixed-effect regression was used for analyzing the association of demographic factors (age and gender), socioeconomic factors (education attainment and monthly income), as well as health-related factors (nutritional status, comorbidity, anxiety, and depression) and MMSE scores.

Results: Total 246 hospitalized Chinese elders were enrolled into this study. Of them, 96 participants were 60-70 years old, 65 participants were 71-80 years old, and 85 of them were 81 years or older. Of the examined factors, we found that age, education attainment, and nutritional status were significantly associated with the outcome of MMSE scores, while monthly income and health condition (comorbidity, anxiety, and depression) were not significantly associated with MMSE score. Furthermore, education attainment was significantly associated with majority of the MMSE domains, including orientation, registration, attention and calculation, recall, and most of language sub-domains.

Conclusion: Education attainment and nutritional status were significantly associated with MMSE scores in the hospitalized Chinese elderly. Higher education and better nutritional status are protective factors for the development of cognitive impairment in the hospitalized elderly Chinese population.