Medicina Comunitária e Educação em Saúde

Abstrato

Handling of Household Flammables by Elderly Dwelling in the Community: Executive Function and Judgment Involved in Handling Errors; The Kurihara Project

Ishikawa H, Takada J, Meguro K, Ouchi Y, Nakatsuka M and The Kurihara Project Members

Background: Handling errors with household flammables, such as pan burning, may result in serious accidents. In the previous study, we surveyed an actual status of handling errors with household flammables in the 590 older residents in Kurihara, northern Japan. The accidents were caused by a decrease in attention/executive function and the ability to predict risks. Methods: According to results of a questionnaire regarding the “frequency of small fire accidents at home” and “the presence or absence of pan burning”, 592 elderly people were divided into 2 groups, the “low-risk group” (no small fire accident, or <1 small fire accident but the absence of pan burning in a year and the “high-risk group” (<1 small fire accident but the presence of pan burning in a year, or frequent small fire accidents). For the neurobehavioral assessments, their memory, executive function, depressive state, and judgment were evaluated using WMSR Logical Memory-I/II, Trail Making Test A/B and Digit Symbol (DS), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), and the question regarding “fire” in Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument (CASI)-7, respectively. Results: The number of subjects with higher Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) score was greater in the high-risk group compared with the low-risk group. Two-way ANCOVA using the CDR scale and risk classification as the main effect, and using age, educational level, and MMSE scores as covariant, showed that the CDR effect and risk classification were observed in Logical Memory-I/II and DS, respectively. The subjects in the high-risk group were more likely not to answer the question about “fire” in CASI -7. Conclusion: Executive function and judgment may be more likely to be involved in handling errors with household flammables, compared with memory. The finding indicated that a scale specific to the handling of household flammables should be established.