Investigation of frailty as a moderator of the relationship between neuropathology and dementia in Alzheimer's disease: a cross-sectional analysis of data from the Rush Memory and Aging Project

Publication date: February 2019Source: The Lancet Neurology, Volume 18, Issue 2Author(s): Lindsay M K Wallace, Olga Theou, Judith Godin, Melissa K Andrew, David A Bennett, Kenneth RockwoodSummaryBackgroundSome people with substantial Alzheimer's disease pathology at autopsy had shown few characteristic clinical symptoms or signs of the disease, whereas others with little Alzheimer's disease pathology have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's dementia. We aimed to examine whether frailty, which is associated with both age and dementia, moderates the relationship between Alzheimer's disease pathology and Alzheimer's dementia.MethodsWe did a cross-sectional analysis of data from participants of the Rush Memory and Aging Project, a clinical–pathological cohort study of older adults (older than 59 years) without known dementia at baseline, living in Illinois, USA. Participants in the cohort study underwent annual neuropsychological and clinical evaluations. In the present cross-sectional analysis, we included those participants who did not have any form of dementia or who had Alzheimer's dementia at the time of their last clinical assessment and who had died and for whom complete autopsy data were available. Alzheimer's disease pathology was quantified by a summary measure of neurofibrillary tangles and neuritic and diffuse plaques. Clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's dementia was based on clinician consensus. Frailty was operationalised retrospectively using health variable informatio...
Source: The Lancet Neurology - Category: Neurology Source Type: research