prevalence of cognitive impairment in community-dwelling older adults

introduction: mild cognitive impairment can be considered as an intermediate clinical state between normal cognitive aging and mild dementia. elderly people with this impairment represent an at-risk group for the development of dementia. the aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of cognitive impairment in community-dwelling older adults by mini-mental state examination (mmse) and its relationship with socio-demographic variables.  methods: in this analytical-descriptive study, 212 subjects admitted to hamadan’s day care centers were selected through simple random sampling method. to gather the data, mmse was used as well as a questionnaire containing demographic variables. data analysis was completed through spss-16.  results: the sample consisted of 17.9% male, 59.4% of whom were married. according to the results, 96 cases (45.3%) suffered from mild (mmse&ge22;), 110 cases (51.9%) from moderate (11&lemmse;&le21;) and 6 cases (2.8%) from severe cognitive disorder (mmse&le10;). as findings revealed, factors such as age (pv = 0.005, r = -0.491) and schooling (pv < 0.001) are of significant relationship with mmse score. discussion: prevalence of cognitive decline in community-dwelling older adults was of normal range. hence, familial relations and social support can decrease mental status disorder.