Introduction:

The accelerated aging of the Cuban population is an alert to the high prevalence of dementias and other chronic diseases.

Objective:

To describe the influence of health status determinants of the population in the development of cognitive disorders.

Data source:

113 articles in the Scielo Virtual Library and in Medline, Google Scholar, Cochrane and PubMed databases were consulted, both in English and Spanish. 38 of the selected were published in national and international magazines of great impact, by authors considered experts in this subject.

Synthesis of data:

In addition to biological and genetic factors, there are other psychosocial determinants such as education and lifestyles that may have an impact on the onset and development of dementia. Among the latter are toxic habits, social interactions, sleep, and depressive states. These states may be considered as a psychological reaction to incipient cognitive worsening or as an early manifestation of dementia.

Conclusions:

The influence of population´s health status determinants in the development of cognitive disorders is remarkable. Given the accelerated aging of the Cuban population, cognitive disorders become a growing health problem. More research is needed and the results of this may contribute to a better understanding of the epidemiological behavior of these disorders. It is necessary, through intersectoral work, the implementation of community intervention strategies that help above all most vulnerable population to have a better life quality.

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