The elderly Taiwan Profile Report revealed that 65 year-old above old population has reached the total population 10.4%,Senior citizen's body and mind function will increase along with the age degenerates, The cognition function's decrease is one of them. The cognition function's decrease loses the wisdom sickness main characteristic, but loses the wisdom sickness is one of old person most serious mental illnesses.
The purpose of this study was to explore the impacts of leisure activities patterns on the changes of normal cognitive function among well-functioned people aged 53 and above in Taiwan.
The longitudinal data with 2820 interviewees were retrieved from the fourth and fifth surveys of the SURVEY OF HEALTH AND LIVING STATUS OF THE ELDERLY IN TAIWAN：Questionnaire and Survey Design” study in 1999 and 2003, respectively.
The independent variables were the frequency changes of leisure activities, including recreational,social,and religions types in 1999 and 2003. The dependent variables were the changes of cognitive function measured by “Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire”（SPMSQ）.
Among those middle-aged and elderly with normal cognitive function in 1999, there were 81.9% still maintaining normal in 2003.The logistical regression result showed that the changes of recreational and religious types of leisure activities were significantly correlated with that of cognitive function.Specifically, those who decreased the frequency of playing chess / cards, or chatting with acquaintances and watch television were likely to have abnormal cognitive condition, with 1.66 and 1.51 odds ratio, respectively. In addition, those who had been keeping the habits of going to the churches or temples compared to those who never go to the churches or temples, the odds to have abnormal cognitive function was 0.62.
Hopefully, the results of the study could be a reference for those elderly in the involvement of leisure activities.
