More Than 5 Percent of Elderly Have Cognitive Disorders

Those with less than a high school education, lower income more likely to report a disorder

THURSDAY, Feb. 3 (HealthDay News) -- More than 5 percent of the 38.7 million U.S. individuals aged 65 years and older in 2007 reported having one or more cognitive disorders, according to a January statistical brief from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

The statistical brief outlines estimates for adults aged 65 years and older who reported one or more cognitive disorders in 2007. The report revealed that 18.4 percent of adults aged 85 years and older reported having one or more cognitive disorders, compared to 6.0 percent of individuals aged 75 to 84 years and 1.1 percent of persons aged 65 to 74 years. Those with less than a high school education were more likely to have reported one or more cognitive disorders (8.6 percent) than those with a high school education (4.9 percent) and those with more than a high school education (2.7 percent).

The report also reveals that 4.1 percent of elderly persons with middle and high income reported one or more cognitive disorders, while 7.9 percent of elderly that were poor reported one or more cognitive disorders. The percentage of elderly individuals with Medicare and other public insurance who reported one or more cognitive disorders (10.6 percent) was higher than the percentage of elderly persons with Medicare and any private insurance (4.1 percent) and elderly persons with Medicare only (5 percent) who reported this.

"During 2007, when comparing average total expenditure for elderly persons with one or more cognitive disorders and those without a cognitive disorder by age, there were significant differences for the following age categories: ages 75 to 84 ($16,753 versus $9,749, respectively) and age 85 and older ($14,461 versus $10,518, respectively)," the authors of the report write.

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