Relationship between activities of daily living and cognitive ability in a sample of older adults with heterogeneous educational level

INTRODUCTION: A number of studies have shown the impact of cognitive abilities on instrumental activities of daily living, in particular executive functions. Nevertheless, it is not clear to what extent these results can be generalized, given that most samples studied have not included people with a low educational level. OBJECTIVES: The current study aims to investigate the association between cognitive abilities and activities of daily living in older adults — with and without dementia — from a middle-income country. SAMPLE: The sample consisted of 48 healthy older adults and 29 people with dementia, who were evaluated in an Outpatient Care Unit in a University Reference Center in Rio de Janeiro. RESULTS: Regression analyses indicated that the best predictors for activities of daily living were performance in immediate verbal memory in the case of controls and in a categorical fluency task in the patient group. The educational level itself was not a significant predictor of functional ability in either sample, but showed moderate correlation with the predictors. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that educational level may be a mediating factor in the association of cognitive variables and activities of daily living, and indicate a potential dissociation in terms of predictors according to the diagnostic status, pointing to relevant treatment directions.