The objective of this descriptive, quantitative and cross-sectional study was to evaluate the cognition of elderly individuals. The sample consisted of 350 people aged > 60 years. Instruments: sociodemographic and health questionnaire and MEEM. The sample contained 60.0% women, mean age of 70.3 years, 54.0% had an incomplete primary education, 61.1% were married and the mean income was 1.54 minimum salaries (MS). Of the participants, 38.6% perceived their current health state as regular; 49.4% considered it to be the same as the last year; 37.4% believed that they were better than people of the same age. MEEM: among the 76 individuals without education, it was found that 5.3% presented cognitive decline, in the 265 participants with low and medium education 4.9%, among those with superior education (9) no cognitive decline was identified. The lowest means found referred to the memory and attention domains. It was also found that 4.9% (17) of the elderly may be developing cognitive impairment.
Aged; Cognition; Mental health; Family health