Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-21T08:10:49.306Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Comparison of cognitive functions among frail and prefrail older adults: a clinical perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2018

Bárbara Bispo da Silva Alves
Affiliation:
Research and Study Group of Neuroscience, Exercise, Health and Sport, Physical Education Department of State University of Montes Claros, Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Elizabete de Oliveira Barbosa
Affiliation:
Research and Study Group of Neuroscience, Exercise, Health and Sport, Physical Education Department of State University of Montes Claros, Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Daniel de Moraes Pimentel
Affiliation:
Research and Study Group of Neuroscience, Exercise, Health and Sport, Physical Education Department of State University of Montes Claros, Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Lara S. F. Carneiro
Affiliation:
Research Center in Sports Sciences, Health Sciences and Human Development, CIDESD, Vila Real, Portugal
Ana Carolina M. A. Rodrigues
Affiliation:
Research and Study Group of Neuroscience, Exercise, Health and Sport, Physical Education Department of State University of Montes Claros, Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil School of Medical Sciences, State University of Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
Andréa Camaz Deslandes
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Mariana Rocha Alves
Affiliation:
Research and Study Group of Neuroscience, Exercise, Health and Sport, Physical Education Department of State University of Montes Claros, Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil Post Graduation Program of Medicine (Neurology – Neuroscience), Federal Fluminense University, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Vinícius Dias Rodrigues
Affiliation:
Research and Study Group of Neuroscience, Exercise, Health and Sport, Physical Education Department of State University of Montes Claros, Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil Post Graduation Program of Health Sciences, State University of Montes Claros, Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Ester Liberato Pereira
Affiliation:
Research and Study Group of Neuroscience, Exercise, Health and Sport, Physical Education Department of State University of Montes Claros, Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Alfredo Maurício Batista de Paula
Affiliation:
Post Graduation Program of Health Sciences, State University of Montes Claros, Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Camila Castelo Branco Pupe
Affiliation:
Post Graduation Program of Medicine (Neurology – Neuroscience), Federal Fluminense University, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Renato Sobral Monteiro-Junior*
Affiliation:
Research and Study Group of Neuroscience, Exercise, Health and Sport, Physical Education Department of State University of Montes Claros, Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil Institute of Psychiatry, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Post Graduation Program of Health Sciences, State University of Montes Claros, Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil Post Graduation Program of Medicine (Neurology – Neuroscience), Federal Fluminense University, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Renato Sobral Monteiro-Junior, Campus Universitário Professor Darcy Ribeiro, Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros, Av. Rui Barbosa, 126, Vila Mauricéia, Montes Claros, MG, Brazil. Phone: +55-38-32298291. Email: [email protected].
Get access

Abstract

Objective:

To compare cognitive function among frail and prefrail older adults.

Design:

Cross-sectional clinical study.

Participants:

Fifty-one non-institutionalized older individuals participated in this study.

Measurements:

Cognitive functions were evaluated through Mini-Mental State Examination (Global Cognition), Digit Span Forward (short-term memory), Digit Span Backward (working memory), Verbal Fluency Test (semantic memory/executive function). Data were compared using parametric and non-parametric bivariate tests. Binary logistic regression was used to test a frailty prediction model. Statistical significance was defined as p ≤ 0.01 to compare groups. In the regression model, the p value was set to be ≤0.05.

Results:

Statistically significant differences were observed in global cognition, and short-term memory between frail and prefrail individuals (p ≤ 0.01). Global cognition explained 14–19% of frailty's model.

Conclusion:

According to our findings, the evaluation of cognitive functions among older persons with frailty and prefrailty provides important complementary information to better manage frailty and its progression.

Type
Brief Report
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bertolucci, P. H. et al., (1994). The Mini-Mental State Examination in a general population: impact of educational status. Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria, 52, 17.10.1590/S0004-282X1994000100001Google Scholar
Brucki, S. M. et al., (1997). Normative data on the verbal fluency test in the animal category in our milieu. Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria, 55, 5661. ISSN 0004–282X. Disponível em: <http://wwwncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9332561>.10.1590/S0004-282X1997000100009.10.1590/S0004-282X1997000100009>Google Scholar
Chen, W. T. et al., (2015). Reduced cerebellar gray matter is a neural signature of physical frailty. Human Brain Mapping, 36, 36663676.10.1002/hbm.22870Google Scholar
Del Brutto, O. H. et al., (2017). Neuroimaging signatures of frailty: a population-based study in community-dwelling older adults (the Atahualpa project). Geriatrics & Gerontology International, 17, 270276.10.1111/ggi.12708Google Scholar
Fougère, B. et al., (2017). Cognitive frailty: mechanisms, tools to measure, prevention and controversy. Clinics in Geriatric Medicine, 33, 339355.10.1016/j.cger.2017.03.001Google Scholar
Fried, L. P. et al., (2001). Frailty in older adults: evidence for a phenotype. The Journals of Gerontology, Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 56, M146–M156.10.1093/gerona/56.3.M146Google Scholar
Garcia-Garcia, F. J. et al., (2011). The prevalence of frailty syndrome in an older population from Spain. The toledo study for healthy aging. The Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging, 15, 852856.10.1007/s12603-011-0075-8Google Scholar
García-García, F. J. et al., (2014). A new operational definition of frailty: the frailty trait scale. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 15, 371.e7371.e13.10.1016/j.jamda.2014.01.004Google Scholar
Martins, S. et al., (2015). Validation study of the European portuguese version of the confusion assessment method (CAM). International Psychogeriatrics, 27, 777784.10.1017/S1041610214001926Google Scholar
Molloy, D. W. and Standish, T. I. (1997). A guide to the standardized Mini-Mental State Examination. International Psychogeriatrics, 9 (Suppl 1), 8794.10.1017/S1041610297004754Google Scholar
Passos, V. M. et al., (2011). Verbal fluency tests reliability in a Brazilian multicentric study, ELSA-Brasil. Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria, 69, 814816.10.1590/S0004-282X2011000600017Google Scholar
Rockwood, K. et al., (2005). A global clinical measure of fitness and frailty in elderly people. CMAJ, 173, 489495.10.1503/cmaj.050051Google Scholar
Rodríguez-mañas, L. et al., (2013). Searching for an operational definition of frailty: a Delphi method based consensus statement: the frailty operative definition-consensus conference project. The Journals of Gerontology, Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 68, 6267.10.1093/gerona/gls119Google Scholar
Schroeder, R. W. et al., (2012). Reliable Digit Span: a systematic review and cross-validation study. Assessment, 19, 2130.10.1177/1073191111428764Google Scholar
Shimada, H. et al., (2018). Cognitive frailty and incidence of dementia in older persons. The Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease, 5, 4248.Google Scholar
Silva, M. A. (2008). Development of the WAIS-III: a brief overview, history, and description. Graduate Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1, 118.Google Scholar