[Assessment of cognitive functions of the elderly in a hospital and long-term care institutions].

Unlabelled: The aim of this study was to assess cognitive functions of the elderly in an acute care department and long-term care institutions.

Material And Methods: A total of 151 hospitalized patients and 111 residents in long-term care facilities participated in the study; in total, 262 respondents. The general items of the inter RAI Questionnaires (Acute Care and Long-Term Care Facilities) were used to evaluate and compare cognitive functions. Hospitalized patients were examined on admission (during 24 hours) evaluating the patient's status before hospitalization (three days before admission to hospital) and 24 hours before planned discharge. The residents in long-term care institutions were examined once.

Results: The assessment of skills for daily decision-making showed that more patients made decisions independently at discharge (68.6%) comparing with admission day (53.0%). Impaired decision-making was more common on admission than at discharge, while the residents in long-term care institutions were more dependent than the hospitalized elderly. Procedural memory problems were more frequent among the residents in long-term care institutions (67.6%) than among the hospitalized elderly both on admission (34.7%) and discharge (21.9%) (P<0.001). The patients were able to express themselves clearly and understood others well at discharge more frequently (81.0% and 82.5%, respectively) than on admission (72.7% and 75.3%, respectively), while only 14.4% of the residents in long-term care institutions were able to express themselves clearly and understood others well (P<0.001).

Conclusions: The residents in long-term care institutions had worse cognitive functions than the hospitalized patients. Cognitive functions of the hospitalized elderly were significantly more impaired on admission as compared to discharge, possibly due to impaired somatic and functional status on admission.