Neuropsychological Cross Cultural Study of Cognitive Performance of Greek Australian Elderly and Exploration of Diagnostic Challenges

In the area of dementia diagnosis and assessment of cognitive functioning of elderly culturally and linguistically diverse individuals (CALDI) little is known about cognitive test performance differences between migrants and peers from their country of origin. Although Australia is known for its multicultural society and Greek is one of the most common languages spoken at home, few studies have compared cognitive test performance between migrants to peers from their country of origin. This study investigated whether the long-term migrant group of elderly Greek-Australians (GA) performance on tests of cognition was comparable to demographically similar group of elderly Greek Nationals (GN). Based on available cross cultural literature it was hypothesised that G A would obtain lower scores on tests of cognition compared to G N due to issues relating to the migrant experience such as acculturation, reduced language fluency and proficiency. The tests used in the current study are used internationally as screening measures of cognitive functioning, assist with the diagnosis of dementia, and assess depression in the elderly. These tests had been normed in Greece and raw data was obtained from Greek researchers to allow for direct comparison between G A and G N . Participants cognitive functioning was assessed on the Cambridge Cognitive Examination of the Elderly ( C A M C O G ) and the Mini Mental Status Examination ( M M S E ) . The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) was administered in order to exclude possible confounding factor of mood on cognitive test performance. The G A participants comprised of 66 healthy, community dwelling, individuals recruited from Melbournian Greek social clubs. They were aged between 56 and 88 years (group mean age = 66.2 years, SD 6.3). The G N participants were recruited by Greek researchers from the 3 Department of Neurology, Aristotle University Hospital of Thessaloniki and consisted of 76 G N participants without dementia (Gn), 66 G N participants with clinical diagnoses and cognitive symptomatology (GID), and 97 G N participants with dementia (GD). G n participants were aged between 55 and 93 years (group mean age = 69.8 years, SD = 7.5). Although there were no significant differences between the groups in terms of gender, G A participants were significantly younger than G n and G D , and G A were significantly more educated than the G D group. G A responses on the G D S indicated minimal