Abstract :
The growing incidence of cognitive decline in aging societies is a primary concern of health care organizations. Many factors were associated with the reduction of cognitive function, such as psychosocial factors, socio-demographic factors, or genetic factors. The aim of this study was to determine the association between the engagement in physical, cognitive, or social activities and the cognitive functions among elderly living in the community. This cross-sectional study was conducted on the 60 elderlies who are residing in community-dwelling using a convenient sampling method. The Leisure Time Activity checklist and Malay version Lowenstein Occupational Therapy Cognitive Assessment for Geriatric (MLOTCA-G) have been used as tools to assess the engagement of leisure time activity and the subject's performance in cognitive functions. The percentage of elderly who were engaged in leisure-time activities as the following: social activities (76%), physical activities (33.3%), and cognitive activities (18.3%). The percentage of high and low performance in cognitive functions were (81%) and (19%) respectively. This study showed significant correlations between age range and cognitive functions excluding visual identification of objects, object constancy, personal possession, and attention and concentration. There also had a significant correlation between the engagement of social, physical, and cognitive activities with the specific cognitive functions. Social activities were the most engaging of leisure time, followed by physical activities and mental activities. Most of the elderly show high performance of the cognitive function. There is also a significant correlation between the ages range in engagements of leisure time activities toward performances in cognitive function.