Cognition and quality of life in older adults

BACKGROUND: According to the recent report by the Ministry of Statistics in India, number of elderly accounts for 8.6% of the country's population. Aging causes biological as well as psychological changes. Decline in cognitive functions is one of the normative changes of aging; however, this may impact both physical and mental health of an individual. Quality of Life (QoL) is one of the prime features of successful aging. Hence, this study was undertaken to correlate the level of cognition and QoL in older adults.METHODOLOGY: One twenty-nine males and females of age 60–75 with or without cognitive impairment were selected using convenience sampling, those who could not read Hindi, who had any unstable medical condition, whose vision could not be corrected to normal level, and those with impaired speech were excluded from the study. Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) was administered to assess the cognitive level. QoL was assessed by QoL-Alzheimer's disease (AD) scale.RESULTS: Result indicated that there is a moderate positive correlation between MoCA and QoL-AD with r = 0.465 and P < 0.05.CONCLUSION: The study concludes that the level of cognition and QoL of older adults are moderately in positive correlation with each other.