Cognitive performance and quality of life in a sample of 220 nondemented elderly people

Summary m of the study was to analyze the influence of cognitive performance, assessed objectively through administration of the mini mental state examination (MMSE), on the subjective perception of quality of life, in a sample of nondemented elderly people, interviewed at the consulting rooms of general practitioners. A questionnaire on the quality of life directly designed for the elderly (LEIPAD) was administered to 220 subjects aged 65 years and over. In the sample, 100 men and 120 women were included. The women produced lower (worse) mean scores than their male counterparts for all the variables considered. Concerning marital status, the most unsatisfied groups in terms of sexual interest and life satisfaction appeared to be people living alone (bachelors/spinsters and the widowed). The mean MMSE score was 26.91 ± 2.15 (range 24–30) for the total sample, 26.82 ± 2.17 (range 24–30) for the females,and 27.03 ± 2.12 (range 24–30) for the males. Analysis of the covariance between the mean global score and subscale scores and age, educational level and MMSE scores, was conducted for the total sample, the subsamples of males and females and of subjects with and without a somatic pathology. High MMSE scores are linked to a lower tendency to refer anxious-depressive and cognitive disorder symptoms and a better perception of quality of life in general, suggesting that cognitively unimpaired elderly people have superior adaptive skills, especially the males. The presence of a clinically significant somatic pathology appears to bring about a change in the relationship between cognitive status and self-perception of quality of life. In this case, the very awareness of the somatic problem is what appears to most objectively influence the various subscales, thereby reducing the role of cognitive performance in favor of educational level.