Introduction. The prevalence of lower education elderly in Indonesia is still high, while low education is one of the major risk factors in cognitive decline. Besides, many other factors are still controversial in relation to cognitive decline. This study focuses on religious activities, vascular risk, APOE e4, and their association to cognitive decline in elderly who already have strong risk factor, which is low education.
Aim. To understand the association between religious activity, vascular risk, APOE e4, and cognitive decline in lower education elderly.
Methods. This research used analytic descriptive method with cohort design. Followed by 154 lower education elderly respondents with 2-3 years follow-up time. The independent variables were religious activity, vascular risk, APOE e4, and demographic characteristics. The dependent variable was cognitive decline which was defined by lowered MMSE score =2 compared to the baseline data.
Results. Religious activity and cholesterol level had a significant association with cognitive decline in lower education elderly (p<0,05), other factors, such as APOE e4, gender, age, marital status, hypertension, body mass index, diabetes mellitus, smoking, and depression showed no significant association (p>0,05).
Discussions. Cholesterol level =200 mg/dL and participated in religious activity were protective factors for cognitive decline in lower education elderly. |