RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Assessing the cognitive status of older adults attending primary healthcare centers in Saudi Arabia using the Mini-Mental State Examination JF Saudi Medical Journal JO Saudi Med J FD Prince Sultan Military Medical City SP 1315 OP 1323 DO 10.15537/smj.2020.12.25576 VO 41 IS 12 A1 Sulaiman A. Alshammari A1 Adel A. Alhamdan A1 Saad M. Bindawas A1 Maysoon M. Al-Amoud A1 Saada M. Al-Orf A1 May N. Al-Muammar A1 Philip C. Calder YR 2020 UL http://smj.org.sa/content/41/12/1315.abstract AB Objectives: To assess the cognitive status of older adults in Saudi Arabia.Methods: This was a cross-sectional, multistage, stratified study of older individuals (≥60 years of age) attending primary healthcare centres in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia between January 2015 and April 2017. We collected data using a structured questionnaire, which incorporated questions regarding demographic and anthropometric variables, the Arabic version of Mini-Mental State Examination, the Mini-Nutritional Assessment tool, and the Modified Katz Index of Independence in activities of daily living.Results: Of the 1299 participants, 914 (70.4%) were male, with a mean age of 66.2 ± 5.9 years. Approximately 79.1% of the participants had intact cognitive function, 17.1 had mild cognitive impairment, and 3.8% had severe cognitive impairment. Impaired cognitive function was associated with increased age, female gender, low education, unmarried status, and unemployed (p<0.001). Reduced cognitive impairment was significantly associated with functional impairment and malnutrition (p<0.001).Conclusion: Cognitive impairment affected around 21% of the participants. The reduced cognitive function was associated with increased age, female gender, low education level, unmarried, low income, dependency on others, functional impairment, and malnutrition. Such information could motivate health-policy makers to introduce appropriate measures to improve older adults’ existing healthcare services in primary care, including cognitive function assessment.