Advanced Activities of Daily Living (AADL) and cognitive performance among older adults

This study aimed to investigate the association between advanced activities of daily living (AADL) and cognitive performance in a community of dwelling older adults participants of the FIBRA study in Ermelino Matarazzo, São Paulo. 302 older adults without cognitive decline, classified as very active or little active in AADLs, were assessed by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Brief Cognitive Screening Battery (BCSB), Verbal Fluency (VF), Clock Drawing Test (CDT), and Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). The AADLs were associated with performance in the MMSE and CDT in univariate analyses, but the association lost statistical significance in the multivariate model. The MMSE score was associated with age, education, sex and depression symptoms. The CDT score was associated with education. The association between AADLs and cognitive performance seems to be modulated by socio-demographic variables and the number of depression symptoms.