Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, Vol 52, Issue 2 M111-M116, Copyright © 1997 by The Gerontological Society of America

JOURNAL ARTICLE

The impact of sociodemographic, environmental, and behavioral factors, and cerebrovascular risk factors as potential predictors of the mattis dementia rating scale

W Freidl, R Schmidt, WJ Stronegger and B Reinhart
Institute of Social Medicine, University of Graz, Austria. wolfgang.freidl@kfunigraz.ac.at

BACKGROUND: Age and education have been found to affect the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale (MDRS) score of elderly normals, but there have been no studies assessing the influence of environmental and behavioral factors on this scale. Their role as potential predictors of the MDRS total score was investigated. METHODS: The MDRS was administered to 1,927 normal elderly subjects in the setting of a stroke prevention study. Results were correlated with 16 sociodemographic, environmental, and behavioral factors, and cerebrovascular risk factors. Study statistics resulted from multiple logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Results indicated that higher age and arterial hypertension were associated with poorer cognitive performance, while better education and moderate general life stress exerted a positive effect on the participants' test results. CONCLUSIONS: Thus, besides the well- established factors of age and educational level, moderate general life stress and hypertension were identified as relevant predictors in determining the MDRS test performance of elderly normals.

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