Progresión del deterioro cognitivo en adultos mayores de los Centros Gerontológicos de la ciudad de Cuenca. 2017

Abstract

Background: Elderly population increases day by day as well as the chronic diseases they suffer; this is how cognitive impairment and dementia have a great impact on the families and on the life quality of all the geriatric patients, as these patients suffer a significant progressive deterioration of their pathology over time. The parameters to guide us about the type and the level of deterioration that elderly people can have, are unknown. To do so, we believe it is necessary that this information be used by health personnel to create new programs targeting this population and targeting the improvement of physic and occupational therapy. General objective: Determine the progression of the cognitive impairment on elderly patients of the Gerontological Centers in Cuenca on 2017. Methodology: A descriptive longitudinal study was conducted on elderly people belonging to 4 private Gerontological Centers in Cuenca. An initial evaluation was conducted through the mini-exam of Lobo and the Reisberg Global Deterioration Scale (GDS). Six months after, a new evaluation was conducted to determine the progress of the cognitive impairment on elderly people. The data was analyzed and processed in Excel program for Windows and SPSS 15.0, it was presented in absolute frequency tables and percentages with charts according to the variables. Results: Cognitive impairment increased by 6.2% over a period of 6 months; 57.4% of patients with cognitive impairment were between 80 and 90 years of age; the sex with a high percentage of this pathology was women with 62%, the degree of severe cognitive deterioration was the most common with 26.3%, and finally it was possible to know that the clinical phase of cognitive impairment with greater presence was moderately severe Alzheimer's disease with 26.3% of the cases