Frailty is Associated With Incident Alzheimer’s Disease and Cognitive Decline in the Elderly

Bibliographic Data

ID19306764
AuthorsAron S Buchman (0000-0002-6426-2742, Rush University Medical Center, corresponding author), Patricia A Boyle (0000-0002-3245-3456), Robert S Wilson (0000-0001-6334-0684), R J Wilson (0000-0002-8184-4103), Yuxiao Tang (0000-0001-7576-8928), David A Bennett (0000-0003-3689-554X)
Year2007
Volume69
Issue5
Pages483-489
Publication date2007-06-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePsychosomatic Medicine (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0033-3174 • E-ISSN: 1534-7796
PublisherOvid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1097/psy.0b013e318068de1d
PMID17556640
OpenAlexW2002571399
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited43

OBJECTIVE: To assess the association between frailty and incident Alzheimer's disease (AD) and cognitive decline. Frailty is common in older persons and associated with adverse health outcomes. METHODS: Study subjects included 823 older persons without dementia who participated in the Rush Memory and Aging Project, a longitudinal study of aging, and underwent annual assessments of frailty, cognition, and diagnostic evaluation for AD. RESULTS: During a 3-year follow-up, 89 of 823 participants developed AD. In a proportional hazards model, both baseline level of frailty and annual rate of change in frailty were associated with an increased risk of incident AD. Each additional one tenth of a unit increase on the frailty scale at baseline was associated with >9% increased risk of AD (hazard ratio: 2.44; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.49, 3.37); each one tenth of a unit increase in annual rate of change in frailty was associated with a 12% increased risk of AD (hazard ratio: 3.30; 95% CI: 1.52, 7.13). These results were unchanged in analyses controlling for vascular risk factors and vascular diseases. Results were similar with a categorical measure of frailty instead of a continuous measure. Further, linear mixed-effects models showed that the level of and rate of change in frailty were also associated with the rate of cognitive decline. CONCLUSION: Increasing frailty is associated with incident AD and the rate of cognitive decline in older persons. These findings suggest that frailty and AD may share similar etiologies

Cognition · Cognitive decline · Confidence interval · Dementia · Disease · Hazard ratio · Proportional hazards model · Psychiatry · Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research · Demography · Frailty in Older Adults · Internal Medicine · Medicine · Palliative Care and End-of-Life Issues · Gerontology

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