Cerebrasthenia and social disadaptation of cerebral-dysgemic genesis in the elderly of the Republic of Karelia

Abstract

Using a bio-psycho-social approach, the correlations between neurological, psycho-pathological and social criteria were studied in elderly persons of the Republic of Karelia with stage I of dyscirculatory encephalopathy (DE) (n = 280; average age 62,4 ± 6,5; gender index 1:1). The control group included healthy persons (n = 32; average age 60,9 ± 8,1; gender index 1:1; p > 0,05). We used Visual Analog Scale (VAS) of Headache, Asthenia Assessment Scale — Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI-20), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Mini-test of Mental State Examination (MMSE), and the social frustration test of L. I. Wasserman. It was found that patients with stage I of DE, in contrast to healthy individuals, were characterized by: the presence of cephalgia (according to VAS 5,06 ± 3,03 points); a higher level of asthenia (total points for MFI-20: 82,6 ± 1,2 and 36,7 ± 1,8; p < 0,05); anxiety/depression (scores for HADS: (11,3 ± 4,6/8,4 ± 3,8 and 3,7 ± 2,3/2,6 ± 1,9; p < 0,05); cognitive dysfunction (average MMSE score: 25,16 ± 1,39 and 28,69 ± 0,47; p < 0,05); social frustration (final index: 2,5 ± 0,6 and 1,0 ± 0,4 points; p < 0,05). A highly significant positive correlation of asthenic syndrome with the level of disadaptive social frustration (R = 0,931; p < 0,001) was found in such patients.