ABSTRACT
Mental health variables must be related to health outcomes so that their usefulness can be demonstrated in health care settings. In the previous chapter, we explored how mental health variables commonly coexisted with physical illness variables, and in this chapter we will explore whether one mental health variable, cognition, affectsariety of health outcomes. For the clinician, the data provided here can be used to demonstrate the important linkages that cognition has with health outcomes. Cognition representsirect measurement ofatient's level of performance, and in the context ofognitive assessment can represent an indirect measure ofatient's brain functioning. Since cognitive impairment is so common in geriatric health care patients, the main role of cognition asredictor is its sensitivity to brain dysfunction and decline in cognitive abilities.
