An assessment of neurocognitive speed in relation to frailty

• DOI: 10.1093/ageing/afs185
• Publication Date: 2013-01-08T17:48:38Z
• Authors: D. B. Rolfson; G. Wilcock; A. Mitnitski; E. King; C. A. de Jager; K. Rockwood; N. Fallah; S. D. Searle
• Keywords: Aged, 80 and over; Male; Aging; Time Factors; Frail Elderly; Age Factors; Neuropsychological Tests; 03 medical and health sciences; Cognition; Logistic Models; 0302 clinical medicine; England; Multivariate Analysis; Linear Models; Odds Ratio; Humans; Female; Longitudinal Studies; Geriatric Assessment; Aged

to evaluate the relationship between neurocognitive speed (NCS) and frailty; to consider how this relationship is affected by how frailty is operationalised.secondary analysis of the baseline cohort of the Oxford Project To Investigate Memory and Aging (OPTIMA), a longitudinal observational cohort.of 388 participants who underwent a comprehensive intake assessment followed by an annual follow-up for at least 3 years, data on all measures were available on 164 people.NCS was defined as a combined score of <18 on the pattern comparison test (<11 is abnormal) and letter comparison test (<7 is abnormal). Frailty was defined from a modified Phenotype model, the Edmonton Frailty Scales (EFS) and a frailty index (FI); the latter two were adapted here to exclude cognitive measures.in multivariate logistic (NCS as < or ≥18) and linear regression (NCS as continuous variable), only the FI (OR = 0.87) was significant (P < 0.05). When all frailty measures were included in the multivariate analysis only, FI (OR = 0.88) was significant (P < 0.05). Mini-mental Status Examination remained significantly related to NCS throughout all analysis.NCS slows with increasing frailty as shown with the FI.