Development of Cognitive Status Standards for South Korean Adults Using Big Data

Research Objectives To develop cognitive status criteria using the cognition and physical items in the 2016 Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA). Design A retrospective cross-sectional study design. Setting Cognitive status criteria were classified using the Korean-Mini Mental Status Examination (K-MMSE) items and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) items. Cognition decline and physical dysfunction were defined if the participants had a K-MMSE score of less than 23 and were unable to perform one or more IADLs, respectively. The cognitive status criteria consist of a 3-level category, including normal (no cognitive decline and no physical dysfunction), moderate (cognitive decline and no physical dysfunction), and severe (cognitive decline and no physical dysfunction). To validate the cognitive status criteria, we examined the association between cognitive status criteria and variables such as depression and grip strength. Participants A total of 5,022 community-dwelling adults retrieved from the 2016 KLoSA. Interventions Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures Not applicable. Results Participants were classified as normal (n=3,878, 77.2%), moderate (n=963, 19.2%), and severe (n=181, 3.6%) cognitive. The age was normal (66.34, SD=8.06), moderate (73.94, SD=8.20), and severe (79.12, SD=8.32) cognitive. The sex was normal (female=2100, 54.15%), moderate (female=679, 70.51%%), and severe (female=114, 62.98%) cognitive. There was a statistically significant difference in grip strength across the cognitive status criteria, except for the difference between "moderate" and "severe" in male. Individuals with depression were more likely to have cognitive impairment (odds ratio [OR] for moderate versus normal =1.21, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.17-1.25; OR for severe versus normal = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.18-1.34). Conclusions The findings indicate that the combination of cognitive decline and physical dysfunction is feasible to objectively classify community-dwelling adults into a 3-level cognitive status. Author(s) Disclosures The author declares that we have no relevant or material financial interests that relate to the research described in this paper.