Validation of cognitive functioning categories in the Canadian Community Health Survey--Healthy Aging.

The objective of this study was to validate categories of cognitive functioning using data from the 2009 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS)--Healthy Aging Cognition Module. Four measures of cognitive functioning--immediate and delayed recall (memory), and animal-naming and the Mental Alternation Test (executive functioning)--were coded into five categories for the Canadian household population aged 45 or older. The scores for each measure were standardized to t-scores that controlled for age, sex and education. Respondents were classified into five cognitive functioning categories. Cross-tabulations, stratum-specific likelihood ratios and multinomial logit regression were used to assess associations between levels of cognitive functioning and various health outcomes: self-reported general and mental health status, memory and problem-solving ability, activities of daily living, life satisfaction, loneliness, depression, and chronic conditions. Results supported the use of five levels of cognitive functioning for all four outcomes on the CCHS--Healthy Aging sample overall and by age group (45 to 64, 65 or older) and language group (English, French). These categories can be used in future work on cognitive functioning based on the CCHS--Healthy Aging.