Cognitive screening of elderly population: results from four primary healthcare centres in İstanbul, Türkiye

Year 2025, Volume: 23 Issue: 2, 175 - 186, 09.08.2025

Tuba Yavuz , Hale Arık Taşyıkan

Abstract

Objective: Our study aimed to perform cognitive screening in primary healthcare centers and examine the prevalence and
associated factors of possible cognitive impairment for İstanbul, Türkiye.
Methods: A total of 200 people (male =105, female =95) aged 65 years and older from four primary healthcare centres in
Istanbul were randomly selected and enrolled in the study. The study population was screened using a socio-demographic
survey, a validated Turkish version of the Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination (ACE-R) and Geriatric Depression
scale. Multilinear regression analysis was used to identify associated factors that contribute lower scores of ACE-R test.
Differences were considered statistically significant at p<0.05.
Results: Possible cognitive impairment prevalence was found 12.5% (n=25) in the study population, with females having
the higher proportion (n=20, 21.1% versus n=5, 4.8%, p<0.001). Based on multilinear regression model, high ACE-R
test scores correlated positively with more education in years (β=.462, p<0.001), negatively with living alone (β=-.286,
p=0.005), and low-income status (β=-.217, p=0.008) for male population. On the other hand, having more education in
years (β=.645, p<0.001) was the only positively correlated factor for high ACE-R test scores in the model for the female
population.
Conclusion: The study represents the most updated epidemiological information about cognitive screening at primary
heathcare level in İstanbul, Türkiye. More research is needed about cognitive decline at primary healthcare level to raise
awareness among the community.

Keywords

Cognitive screening , Prevalence , Risk factors , Primary healthcare

Ethical Statement

All permissions for the study were obtained from the Yeditepe University Ethical Committee (ethics approval no: 953) and Provincial Directorate of Health in İstanbul. Informed consent forms were signed by all the study participants before data collection, and in case of the participants were unable to give the consent, written approval was sought from the legally authorized representatives who accompanied the participants in the primary healthcare centres.

Supporting Institution

N/A

Project Number

N/A

Thanks

N/A

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