Self Rated Psychiatric Symptoms and Cognitive Test Performance of the Elderly in Rural India

Present paper is aimed to discuss the association between cognitive test performance, based on Hindi Mini-Mental State Examination (HMMSE), and various self rated psychiatric symptoms among the elderly in different rural areas of Uttar Pradesh and Kerala, States of India. Study in these two states Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Kerala may gives a true picture of India's profiles related to elderly population in almost all respects. The results based on these two Indian states can be compared with the results of any developed and developing country of Asian region.
This study is based on a specially designed sample survey entitled “Socio-Economic Status, Behavioral Problems and Health Hazards of The Elderly Across Diverse Setting in India” of about 1000 elderly people selected from the above two states comprising 600 elderly people from UP and 400 from Kerala.
As a result, the median score based on HMMSE was found less among the elderly sample in Kerala as compared to UP. The low scoring in HMMSE was found significantly associated with higher age and low educational level of the elderly. However, the symptoms of sadness, depressive thoughts, social withdrawal and agitation feeling were also found to be significantly related with HMMSE scores.