Journal of International Psychiatry

Objective To explore the relationship between social capital and cognitive impairment of the elderly, and providing evidence for conduct community intervention. Methods 1159 community residents aged 60 and over in 4 counties (districts) of Ningxia were selected through multi-stage sampling method procedure. Face to face interview conducted by trained lay medical students, a blanket of instruments includes sociodemographic information, social capital scale and Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE). The unconditional logistic regression model was used to analysis the possible risk factors of cognitive impairment. Results 306 participants met the criteria of cognitive impairment, with a prevalence of 26.40%; Multivariate analysis showed that age (OR=1.45, 95% CI: 1.24, 1.68), gender (OR=3.74, 95% CI: 2.58, 5.41) ,education level (OR=0.37, 95% CI: 0.27, 0.51) and community level social capital (OR=0.81, 95% CI: 0.70, 0.94) were significantly associated with cognitive impairment. Conclusion The factors affecting the cognitive function of the elderly are multi-faceted. The community level social capital was positively associated with cognitive function among the elderly, suggesting that appropriate community ecology may play positive role in preventing cognitive impairment.

Elderly; Cognitive function; Social capital; Logistic regression; Cross-sectional study