Turkish Journal of
GERIATRICS

SSK Göztepe Eğitim Hastanesi, Fiziksel Tıp ve Rehabilitasyon Anabilim Dalı, İSTANBUL The objective of this study is to inquire the cognitive level, functional capacity, depression symptoms and to determine demographic characteristics in geriatric outpatients with musculoskeletal complaints. Patients at the age of 65 years and above were assessed with Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), their functional capacity was measured with the short-form SF-36 scale and depression status was evaluated with the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) by the doctors in face-to-face interview. One-way variance analysis (ANOVA), Tukey for Multiple Comparison, t-Test were done for statistical analyses, using Graph Pad Prisma V 3 programme. The mean age of our 91 patients was 70, and 77 % of them were women. The mean scores for SF-36 subscales were 50.44 % for functional state, 47 % for vitality, 42.5 % for general health perceptions and 46.65% for total life satisfaction / quality. All results were low in illeterate patients. The mean score of MMSE was higher than the threshold of 22. And it was higher in men and retired persons compared to others. The GDS mean score (10.47) was arround the threshold level. It was higher in illeterates and low income group. We observed that as the socio-economic level gets higher; the scores of cognitive, functional and depression assessments become higher. We found depression approximately in half of the patients. They had low SF-36 percentage and MMSE assessment score. These lead us to conclude that the diagnosis and treatment of depression in geriatric patients are required. Keywords : Geriatrics, Cognitive function, Depression, Functional capacity.