Cognitive dysfunction in urban elderly people: an exploratory study using neuropsychological and neuroimaging perspective

Background: Cognitive impairment is an integral part of old age as well as it is a part of many neurodegenerative disorders. Early identification of cognitive impairment is necessary in order to make treatment and rehabilitation possible. Materials and methods: Keeping in mind that early identification of cognitive impairment is necessary, a sample of 20 elderly patients with memory complaints who were referred for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with symptoms of peripheral nervous system disorder by neurologists have been assessed using neuropsychological tests and MRI, and results have been analysed using IBM SPSS 21 and DICOM software. Results: Neuropsychological test findings suggest that age, sex, and education are related to performance of the participants on different tests of cognitive functions in different ways. Scores on the tests of delayed memory and verbal fluency emerged as positive predictors of activity level. On the basis of MRI, the elderly people were identified with periventricular hyper-intensity of white matter and global cortical atrophy. A comparison of the two groups (on the basis of MRI findings) suggest that elderly people with global cortical atrophy were found to be significantly more impaired on visuospatial tasks in comparison to the group with periventricular hyper-intensity of white matter, among other tests of cognitive functions. Conclusion: In spite of the absence of manifestation of dementing illness at clinical level, the participants actually exhibited underlying pathological process which can be detected with neuropsychological testing in conjunction with neuroimaging.