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Dimensions of physical frailty and cognitive function in older adults with amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

ABSTRACT: The objective of this study was to examine relationships between dimensions of physical frailty and severity of cognitive impairment in older adults with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI).The prevalence of physical frailty dimensions including slow gait speed, low physical activity, and low grip strength was examined among 201 sedentary older adults with aMCI. Associations between dimensions of physical frailty and severity of cognitive impairment, as measured with the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Subscale (ADAS-Cog) and individual dimensions of cognitive function were examined using multiple linear regression models.Greater than 50% of participants met physical frailty criteria on dimensions of slow gait speed, low physical activity and low grip strength. Slower gait speed was associated with elevated severity of cognitive impairment. Both gait speed and physical activity were associated with individual dimensions cognitive function.Dimensions of physical frailty, particularly gait speed, were associated with severity of cognitive impairment, after adjusting for age, sex and age-related factors. Further studies are needed to investigate mechanisms and early intervention strategies that assist older adults with aMCI to maintain function and independence.

SUBMITTER: McGough EL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5562508 | biostudies-other | 2013 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Project description:We examined whether the efficacy of steady-state cerebral autoregulation (CA) is reduced in older adults with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), a prodromal stage of clinical Alzheimer disease (AD). Forty-two patients with aMCI and 24 cognitively normal older adults (NC) of similar age, sex, and education underwent stepwise decreases and increases in mean arterial pressure (MAP) induced by intravenous infusion of sodium nitroprusside and phenylephrine, respectively. Changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF) were measured repeatedly in the internal carotid and vertebral artery. Linear mixed modeling, including random effects of both individual intercept and regression slope, was used to quantify the MAP-CBF relationship accounting for nonindependent, repeated CBF measures. Changes in end-tidal CO2 (EtCO2) associated with changes in MAP were also included in the model to account for their effects on CBF. Marginal mean values of MAP were reduced by 13-14 mmHg during sodium nitroprusside and increased by 20-24 mmHg during phenylephrine infusion in both groups with similar doses of drug infusion. A steeper slope of changes in CBF in response to changes in MAP was observed in aMCI relative to NC, indicating reduced efficacy of CA (MAP × Group, P = 0.040). These findings suggest that cerebrovascular dysfunction may occur early in the development of AD.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Cerebral autoregulation is a fundamental regulatory mechanism to protect brain perfusion against changes in blood pressure that, if impaired, may contribute to the development of Alzheimer's disease. Using a linear mixed model, we demonstrated that the efficacy of cerebral autoregulation, assessed during stepwise changes in arterial pressure, was reduced in individuals with amnestic mild cognitive impairment, a prodromal stage of Alzheimer's disease. These findings support the hypothesis that cerebrovascular dysfunction may be an important underlying pathophysiological mechanism for the development of clinical Alzheimer's disease.

Project description:BackgroundU.S. nursing homes provide long-term care to over 1.2 million older adults, 60% of whom were physically frail and 68% had moderate or severe cognitive impairment. Limited research has examined the longitudinal experience of these two conditions in older nursing home residents.MethodsThis national longitudinal study included newly-admitted non-skilled nursing care older residents who had Minimum Data Set (MDS) 3.0 (2014-16) assessments at admission, 3 months, and 6 months (n = 266,001). Physical frailty was measured by FRAIL-NH and cognitive impairment by the Brief Interview for Mental Status. Separate sets of group-based trajectory models were fitted to identify the trajectories of physical frailty and trajectories of cognitive impairment, and to estimate the association between older residents' characteristics at admission with each set of trajectories. A dual trajectory model was used to quantify the association between the physical frailty trajectories and cognitive impairment trajectories.ResultsOver the course of the first six months post-admission, five physical frailty trajectories ["Consistently Frail" (prevalence: 53.0%), "Consistently Pre-frail" (29.0%), "Worsening Frailty" (7.6%), "Improving Frailty" (5.5%), and "Consistently Robust" (4.8%)] and three cognitive impairment trajectories ["Consistently Severe Cognitive Impairment" (35.5%), "Consistently Moderate Cognitive Impairment" (31.8%), "Consistently Intact/Mild Cognitive Impairment" (32.7%)] were identified. One in five older residents simultaneously followed the trajectories of "Consistently Frail" and "Consistently Severe Cognitive Impairment". Characteristics associated with higher odds of the "Improving Frailty", "Worsening Frailty", "Consistently Pre-frail" and "Consistently Frail" trajectories included greater at-admission cognitive impairment, age ≥ 85 years, admitted from acute hospitals, cardiovascular/metabolic diagnoses, neurological diagnoses, hip or other fractures, and presence of pain. Characteristics associated with higher odds of the "Consistently Moderate Cognitive Impairment" and "Consistently Severe Cognitive Impairment" included worse at-admission physical frailty, neurological diagnoses, hip fracture, and receipt of antipsychotics.ConclusionsFindings provided information regarding the trajectories of physical frailty, the trajectories of cognitive impairment, the association between the two sets of trajectories, and their association with residents' characteristics in older adults' first six months post-admission to U.S. nursing homes. Understanding the trajectory that the residents would most likely follow may provide information to develop a comprehensive care approach tailored to their specific healthcare goals.

Project description:Background/objectivesTo obtain national and regional estimates of prevalence of frailty with or without cognitive impairment, and cognitive impairment with or without frailty among older adults in the United States, and to identify profiles of characteristics that distinguish their joint versus separate occurrence.DesignCross-sectional.SettingCommunity or non-nursing home residential care settings.ParticipantsA U.S. nationally representative sample of 7,497 older adults aged 65 and older from the National Health and Aging Trends Study.MeasurementsFrailty was measured by the physical frailty phenotype. Cognitive impairment was assessed by cognitive performance testing of executive function and memory or by proxy reports. Multinomial logistic regression was used to identify profiles of demographic, socioeconomic, health, behavioral, and psychosocial characteristics that distinguish four subgroups: not-frail and cognitively intact ("neither"), not-frail and cognitively impaired ("Cog. only"), frail and cognitively intact ("frailty only"), and frail and cognitively impaired ("both").ResultsThe prevalence of "Cog. only," "frailty only," and "both" was 25.5%, 5.6%, and 8.7%, respectively. Individuals with"frailty only" had the highest prevalence of obesity, current smoking, comorbidity, lung disease, and history of surgery. The "both" group had the highest prevalence of dementia, depression, cardiovascular diseases, and disability. No significant differences were found between the "Cog. only" group and the "neither" group with respect to history of surgery and comorbidity burden. The prevalence of dementia in the "Cog. only" was less than half of that in the "both" group.ConclusionThe finding of sizable subgroups having physical frailty but not cognitive impairment, and vice versa, suggests that the two cannot be considered necessarily as antecedent or sequela of one another. The study provided empirical data supporting the prioritization of comorbidity, obesity, surgery history, and smoking status in clinical screening of frailty and cognitive impairment before formal diagnostic assessments.

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Dimensions of physical frailty and cognitive function in older adults with amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

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