Cognitive function and common mental disorders in older people with vascular and non‐vascular disorders: a national survey

OBJECTIVE: Vascular disorders are important potential causes of cognitive impairment and common mental disorders but their specificity as risk factors has yet to be clarified. The objectives of this analysis were to compare vascular and non-vascular health problems with respect to their associations with cognitive function and common mental disorder. METHOD: An analysis was carried out of cross-sectional data from the 2000 UK National Survey of Psychiatric Morbidity. The two dependent variables analysed were common mental disorder (revised Clinical Interview Schedule) and cognitive function (TICSm and animal naming) in survey participants who were aged 60-74 years (n = 2007). Associations with self-reported vascular and common non-vascular (musculoskeletal, respiratory or gastrointestinal) disorders were compared. Disability (SF-12 physical scale) was considered as a potential confounding/mediating factor). RESULTS: Vascular disorders were associated with impaired global cognitive function and lower memory but not verbal fluency scores after adjustment for age, gender, education and social class. No such associations were found for non-vascular disorders. Vascular and non-vascular disorders were associated with common mental disorder to a similar extent, and associations were substantially explained by disability. CONCLUSIONS: Lower cognitive function was specifically associated with vascular disorders. Findings for common mental disorder were more consistent with an effect of disability rather than the actual consequences of specific health complaints.