Illiteracy and poor schooling is still a major problem in developing countries. As life expectancy is increasing steadily, these countries have many illiterate elderly at risk of developing dementia. In fact, illiteracy has been considered a risk factor for dementia, along with age, female gender, and living cional (analfabetos/alfabetizados: OR=15,60; p=0/ OR = 16,40; p=0). Idade e gênero são fatores associados a comprometimento cognitivo/funcional (p<0,05). A prevalência de comprometimento cognitivo/funcional é mais alta que a encontrada em outro estudo brasileiro. Idade, gênero feminino e comprometimento funcional estão diretamente associados a comprometimento cognitivo. O reconhecimento de comprometimento funcional pode ser mais fácil por familiares/profissionais de saúde. Isso reforça a idéia do uso combinado de escalas em rastreamentos de demência. PREVALENCE OF COGNITIVE AND FUNCTIONAL IMPAIRMENT IN COMMUNITY-DWELLING ELDERLYPA L AV R A S -C H AVE: Status funcional, comprometimento cognitivo, epidemiologia, prevalência, fatores de risco

Mini-mental state examination in community-dwelling elderly: preliminary data from Santo Antônio de Mini-mental state examination in community-dwelling elderly: preliminary data from Santo Antônio de Mini-mental state examination in community-dwelling elderly: preliminary data from Santo Antônio de Mini-mental state examination in community-dwelling elderly: preliminary data from Santo Antônio de Mini-mental state examination in community-dwelling elderly: preliminary data from Santo Antônio de Pádua, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Pádua, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Pádua, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Pádua, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Pádua, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil ABSTRACT -Objective: To define mini-mental state examination (MMSE) global scores, by age and education in elderly in Santo Antônio de Pádua, Rio de Janeiro,Brazil. Method: Elderly ≥ 65 years-old (n=341; m=109, f=232) responded to MMSE. Sample was divided by age and education: young old (65-84 years)/oldest old (>85 years), illiterates, low/medium schooling. MMSE scores were compared using t test of Student, MannWhitney and Tukey (p<0.05). Results: Young and oldest old's mean age were 73.13 ± 5.27; 88.00 ± 4.90, respectively. Young old MMSE score was 19.91 ± 5.35 and oldest old was 16.90 ± 4.96. There was a significant difference between the groups (p=0.01). Illiterate and educated elderly scored 17.08 ± 4.42 and 22.34 ± 4.94, respectively (p<0.0001). Illiterate and educated young old (age=73.61 ± 5.26; 72.67 ± 5.26) scored 17.29 ± 4.40 and 22.42 ± 4.98, respectively. MMSE shows significant difference between groups of young old (p<0.0001). MMSE of illiterate and educated oldest old (age=86.50 ± 1.09; 90.25 ± 7.34) were 14.33 ± 3.89 and 20.75 ± 3.85, respectively. Conclusion: Schooling and age influence on MMSE. These results do not compare with those of developed countries taking education as a variable.