METHODOLOGY: Data were derived from a group of 1210 Malaysian elderly individuals who were noninstitutionalized and demented. The multiple logistic regression model was applied to estimate the risk of falls in respondents.
RESULTS: Approximately the prevalence of falls was 17% among the individuals. The results of multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that age (odds ratio [OR] = 1.03), ethnicity (OR = 1.76), sleep quality (OR = 1.46), and environmental quality (OR = 0.62) significantly affected the risk of falls in individuals (P < .05). Furthermore, sex differences, marital status, educational level, and physical activity were not significant predictors of falls in samples (P > .05).
CONCLUSION: It was found that age, ethnic non-Malay, and sleep disruption increased the risk of falls in respondents, but high environmental quality reduced the risk of falls.
METHODOLOGY: This research was conducted on 1210 noninstitutionalized elderly Malaysian individuals with dementia. The effects of age, ethnicity, educational level, marital status, sex differences, social support, and having a partner on sleep quality were evaluated in the respondents. The multiple logistic regression analysis was used to predict the risk of sleep disturbances among the participants.
RESULTS: Approximately, 41% of the participants experienced sleep disruption. Further findings showed that ethnicity (odds ratio [OR] = 0.62), social support (OR = 1.35), marital status (OR = 2.21), educational level (OR = 0.65), and having a partner (OR = 0.45) significantly affected sleep quality (P < .05). Sex differences and age were unrelated predictors of sleep disturbances (P > .05).
CONCLUSION: It was concluded that social isolation and being single increased sleep disruption among respondents, but having a partner and ethnic non-Malay decreased the rate of sleep problems.
METHODOLOGY: Data for the study, consisting of 2553 older adults aged 60 years and older, were drawn from a nationwide household survey entitled "Determinants of Wellness among Older Malaysians: A Health Promotion Perspective" conducted in 2010.
RESULTS: Current smokers had lower rates of cognitive impairment compared to never smokers (17.4% vs 25.9%), while cognitive function in former or ex-smokers was almost similar to that of the never smokers. Findings from multiple logistic regression analysis showed that current smokers were 37% less likely to be cognitively impaired, compared to the never smokers (odds ratio [OR] = .63; 95% confidence interval [CI]: .46-.86) while controlling for potential confounders. No difference in cognitive function was observed between former smokers and never smokers (OR = .94; 95% CI: .71-1.25).
CONCLUSION: Although the findings indicated a negative association between cigarette smoking and cognitive impairment, we are unable to conclude whether this relationship is causal or affected by other unmeasured confounding factors, especially survival bias.
METHODOLOGY: The data for this study, consisting of 2926 community-dwelling older adults, were obtained from the National survey entitled "Mental Health and Quality of Life of Older Malaysians." Dementia was diagnosed using the Geriatric Mental State-Automated Geriatric Examination for Computer-Assisted Taxonomy.
RESULTS: Prevalence of dementia was considerably higher among older adults with gastritis (29.5%) compared to those without gastritis (13.2%). After adjusting for age, gender, marital status, educational attainment, hypertension, stroke, and diabetes, gastritis was significantly associated with more than twice odds of dementia (adjusted odds ratio = 2.42, P < .001, 95% confidence interval = 1.68-3.49).
CONCLUSIONS: The findings from this population-based observational study showing evidence that gastritis may increase the risk of dementia provide avenue for further inquiries into dementia.
METHODS: Data for the study were drawn from a national survey entitled the "Determinants of Wellness among Older Malaysians: A Health Promotion Perspective" conducted in 2010.
RESULTS: According to the Mini-Mental State Examination education-adjusted cutoff points, 15.6% of the 1046 respondents were identified as having MCI. Older adults with MCI had a significantly lower level of sexual activity than the healthy cognitive group (chi-square = 50.20, P < .001, 32.5% vs 62.3%). The results of 3-step hierarchical logistic regression model revealed that MCI is significantly associated with decreased sexual activity in community-dwelling older adults, over and beyond demographic factors, and age-related medical conditions affecting sexual activity (odds ratio 0.33, P < .001, 95% confidence interval 0.23-0.49).
CONCLUSION: Findings from the present study support the significant role of cognitive functioning to perform sexual activity in later life.
METHODS: LDA was applied to 6,328 Taiwanese clinical patients for classification purposes. Clustering method was used to identify the associated influential symptoms for each severity level.
RESULT: LDA shows only 36 HAICDDS questions are significant to distinguish the 5 severity levels with 80% overall accuracy and it increased to 85.83% when combining normal and MCI groups. Severe dementia patients have the most serious declination in most cognitive and functionality domains, follows by moderate dementia, mild dementia, MCI and normal patients.
CONCLUSION: HAICDDS is a reliable and time-saved diagnosis tool in classifying the severity of dementia before undergoing a more in-depth clinical examination. The modified CDR may be indicated for epidemiological study and provide a solid foundation to develop a machine-learning derived screening instrument to detect dementia symptoms.