Study On The Status And Correlation Between Loneliness And Mild Cognitive Impairment Among The Elderly In Community

Objective To understand the status of loneliness and mild cognitive impairment(MCI)among the elderly in community,analyze the prevalence and influencing factors of loneliness and MCI among the elderly in community,and explore the correlation between loneliness and MCI,to provide a new way to improve or slow down the cognitive function of the elderly from the perspective of loneliness.Methods A total of 1047 elderly from 9 communities in chongqing were selected by multi-stage stratified sampling method from October 2018 to May 2019.The elderly in community were investigated by the socio-demographic data questionnaire,UCLA loneliness scale,Montreal Cognitive Assessment Beijing Version(MoCA-BJ),Clinical Dementia Rating(CDR)and Social Support Rating Scale(SSRS).Then using SPSS25.0 software for descriptive analysis,univariate analysis,multivariate analysis and correlation analysis.Results 1.The mean scores of loneliness among the elderly in community was 36.55 ± 7.76,469 elderly were assessed as having moderate and high level of loneliness,accounting for 44.8%.The results ofmultiple linear regression analysis showed that marital status,monthly income,physical exercise,pet ownership,health self-rated status and social support were the main influencing factors of loneliness among the elderly in community.2.The total score of MoCA among the elderly in community was25.03 ± 3.53,and the prevalence of MCI was 24.5%(256/1047).The cognitive dimension of MCI patients from high to low in impairment rate were delayed recall(252,98.4%),visuospatial and executive(247,96.5%),attention(222,94.5%),abstraction(169,66.0%),orientation(159,62.1%),naming(149,58.2%),language(137,53.5%).The results of Logistic regression analysis showed that female,old age,living alone or with children,and memory decline were risk factors for MCI elderly in community,while education level,monthly income and social support were protective factors for MCI elderly in community.3.The loneliness score of the elderly in community was negatively correlated with total score of MoCA,visuospatial and executive,attention,language and delayed recall,that is,the higher the level of loneliness of the elderly,the worse their cognitive function.The comparisons between different groups showed that there were statistical differences in the total scores of MoCA,visuospatial and executive,attention,language and delayed recall in the elderly with different levels of loneliness(P<0.05),while no statistical differences in the scores of naming,abstraction andorientation(P > 0.05).Under the control of gender,age,education level,living status,monthly income,memory decline and social support,moderate level of loneliness(OR=2.754,95%CI:2.015~3.674)and high level of loneliness(OR=3.125,95%CI:2.009~4.861)were the risk factors for MCI among the elderly in community.Conclusion The prevalence of loneliness and MCI is higher among the elderly in community,and the higher the level of loneliness,the higher the prevalence of MCI.The elderly with higher levels of loneliness were more severely impaired in visuospatial and executive,attention,language and delayed recall.Community workers should take measures to alleviate the loneliness of the elderly through various channels and ways,delay the decline of their cognitive function,reduce the conversion rate from MCI to AD,and improve the quality of life of the elderly.