Study on cognitive ability and mental health status of the empty-nest elders in urban area of Beijing / 国际中医中药杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the cognitive ability and mental health status of the empty-nest elderly people lived in urban area of Beijing.Methods We recruited subjects from 8 communities in Beijing.1067 people were investigated,including 839 empty-nest elderly subjects and 228 not empty-nest elderly subjects.We used demography questionnaire and mental health scale to assess the cognitive ability and mental health of these elders.Results The subjects in the empty-nest elderly having high education,well-condition marriage and being male were more than those in the other group (T or x2=10.769,2.009,159.523,P＜0.05).There was no significant difference in the global cognition between the two groups (F=5.541,P＞0.05).Among language ability,working memory,attention and executive function,the differences between these two groups were significant (F=7.203,4.436,8.806,P＜0.05).Compared with normal elderly subjects,empty-nest elderly subjects had higher scores in face scale and GDS scale (F=5.541,5.578,P＜0.05).Conclusion There are remarkable cognitive ability and mental health differences between empty-nest and not empty-nest elders.