The impact of sociodemographic, environmental, and behavioral factors, and cerebrovascular risk factors as potential predictors of the mattis dementia rating scale.

BACKGROUND Age and education have been found to affect the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale (MDRS) score of elderly normals, but there have been no studies assessing the influence of environmental and behavioral factors on this scale. Their role as potential predictors of the MDRS total score was investigated. METHODS The MDRS was administered to 1,927 normal elderly subjects in the setting of a stroke prevention study. Results were correlated with 16 sociodemographic, environmental, and behavioral factors, and cerebrovascular risk factors. Study statistics resulted from multiple logistic regression analysis. RESULTS Results indicated that higher age and arterial hypertension were associated with poorer cognitive performance, while better education and moderate general life stress exerted a positive effect on the participants' test results. CONCLUSIONS Thus, besides the well-established factors of age and educational level, moderate general life stress and hypertension were identified as relevant predictors in determining the MDRS test performance of elderly normals.