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Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the influential factors of cognitive function in older adults. Methods: In this study, 377 older adults (mean age: 74.71 +/- 6.15 years) were examined. The Hodkinson Abbreviated Mental Test (HAMT) was used to describe cognitive function of the individuals. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL-4) survey tool was used to measure the quality of life. Possible influential factors of cognitive function were also detected. The following independent variables were included in the logistic regression analysis: age, gender, education level, residency, smoking habit, musculoskeletal pain, medication use, number of unhealthy mental days, number of unhealthy physical days, and activity limitation days. Results: The results indicated that the elderly with cognitive impairment showed low scores in terms of the three parameters of the CDC HRQOL-4. The findings also indicate that the following variables were found to significantly affect cognitive function: (1) age, (2) residency (rest home), (3) smoking (yes or quit), and (4) number of unhealthy mental days. Conclusion: Older adults should be assessed in terms of factors related to cognition, such as age, residency, smoking, and mood in order to plan the most suitable geriatric care. Copyright (C) 2013, Taiwan Society of Geriatric Emergency Si Critical Care Medicine. Published by Elsevier Taiwan LLC. All rights reserved.

The effects of aging and gender on balance performance (BP) among ambulatory adults were investigated in the current work. If there was a relation between the BP and a history of falling, this was also detected. Two hundred and forty ambulatory subjects were divided into two groups depending on their age: (1) 125 middle-aged subjects (50-64 years); (2) 115 elderly subjects (65-75). The functional reach (FR) test, the timed up and go (TUG) test, the sit to stand (STS) test and the step test (ST) were used to evaluate the BP. The fall rate (1-2 in the last year) was 8% for the middle-aged group and was 13.9% for the elderly group. Middle-aged adults had better scores on all tests in comparison to the elderly people. There have been differences found between genders regarding the BP in both groups, except the FR scores in the middle-aged group. The FR distance of the faller subjects was rather low in comparison to non-faller elderly subjects. However, there were no significant differences between the faller and non-faller subjects in both groups regarding other tests' scores. The results of this study indicate that aging affects the BP year by year. The information in this paper can provide normative data to be used as a comparison to clinically obtained information. © 2007 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.