A comparison of frailty indexes for prediction of adverse health outcomes in an elderly cohort.

This study aimed to compare the predictive accuracy for several frailty-related adverse health outcomes of a cumulative index derived from the Italian population-based elderly cohort of the Conselice Study of Brain Aging (CSBA), which takes into account multiple different domains (demographic, clinical, functional, and nutritional parameters), with that of an index derived from the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures (SOF), modified for application to the CSBA database and henceforth called mSOF, which is exclusively focused on muscular fitness. Data are for 1007 CSBA participants aged ≥ 65 years. Investigated adverse outcomes included 4- and 7-year risk of death and 4-year risk of fractures, falls, disability, hospitalization, and nursing home placement.

Metabolic syndrome and risk of dementia in older adults.

Objectives: To investigate the association between metabolic syndrome (MetS; a clustering of cardiovascular risk factors including abdominal obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and hyperglycemia, each of which has been individually associated with dementia) and incident dementia, Alzheimer's disease (AD), and vascular dementia (VaD) in older adults before and after the age of 75.

Design: Prospective population-based cohort.

Setting: An Italian municipality.

Blood inflammatory proteins and risk of incident depression in the elderly.

Background: It is unclear whether high levels of blood inflammatory proteins are associated with the risk of developing depression in late life.

Methods: Blood C-reactive protein, interleukin (IL)-6, 1 -antichymotrypsin (ACT), intercellular adhesion molecule 1, and tumor necrosis factor were measured in an elderly cohort (n = 968). Major depression diagnosed according to clinical criteria and relevant depressive symptoms measured by the Geriatric Depression Scale (score 6 10) were assessed at baseline and 4 year later.

Blood homocysteine and risk of depression in the elderly.

We studied whether increased blood homocysteine is a predictor for incident depression in a population-based cohort aged >or=65. A total of 240 men and 217 women were identified at baseline and were assessed 4 years later for depression (Geriatric Depression Scale, GDS >or=10 or use of antidepressants). Risk of incident depression was estimated for the highest gender-specific tertile of baseline plasma homocysteine compared to the other tertiles combined in a reference group.

Prevalent depressive symptoms as a risk factor for conversion to mild cognitive impairment in an elderly Italian cohort.

Objective: To examine the association between depressive symptoms and prevalent and incident mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in elderly individuals; to verify whether it is affected by MCI subtype.

Design: Prospective, population-based, longitudinal cohort study.

Setting: Adults >or=65 years resident in an Italian municipality.

Plasma tocopherols and risk of cognitive impairment in an elderly Italian cohort.

Background: Evidence that vitamin E may preserve cognitive function in elderly subjects is conflicting. The most abundant and most investigated form of vitamin E in humans is alpha-tocopherol, but other antioxidant tocopherols (beta, gamma, and delta) exist in nature.

Objective: We aimed to investigate plasma concentrations of the natural tocopherols and the tocopherol oxidation markers alpha-tocopherylquinone (alphaTQ) and 5-nitro-gamma-tocopherol (5NGT) in relation to cognitive function in the elderly.

Development of an easy prognostic score for frailty outcomes in the aged.

Background: identification of frailty is recommended in geriatric practice. However, there is a lack of frailty scores combining easy-to-collect predictors from multiple domains.

Objective: to develop a frailty score including only self-reported information and easy-to-perform standardised measurements recommended in routine geriatric practice.

Mild cognitive impairment: epidemiology and dementia risk in an elderly Italian population.

Objectives: To investigate prevalence and incidence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and its risk of progression to dementia in an elderly Italian population.

Design: Longitudinal.

Setting: Population-based cohort aged 65 and older resident in an Italian municipality.

Endogenous sex hormones as risk factors for dementia in elderly men and women.

Background: The associations of endogenous sex hormones with risk of dementia in the elderly population are not well known.

Methods: The relationship of baseline serum total estradiol (E2) and free testosterone (FT) to 4-year risk of all-cause dementia, Alzheimer's disease (AD), and vascular dementia (VaD) was examined in a dementia-free, population-based cohort of 433 women (mean age 74 years) and 376 men (mean age 73 years). Multivariable proportional hazards regression was used to adjust for sociodemographic and lifestyle variables, body mass index, apolipoprotein E genotype, cardiovascular conditions, and homocysteinemia.

Atrial fibrillation and risk of dementia in non-demented elderly subjects with and without mild cognitive impairment.

Objectives: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is regarded as a precursor to dementia, but not all patients with MCI actually develop dementia. As Alzheimer and vascular dementia are thought to share many common etiopathogenetic mechanisms, we investigated whether the vascular risk factor atrial fibrillation affects the risk of conversion to dementia for different MCI subtypes diagnosed according to international criteria.

Methods: One hundred and eighty elderly outpatients with MCI and 431 elderly outpatients with a normal cognition were followed up for a mean of 3 and 4 years, respectively.