HETEROGENEITY IN RISK FACTORS FOR COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT, NO DEMENTIA: Population-Based Longitudinal Study From the Kungsholmen Project.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to investigate the relation of vascular, neuropsychiatric, social, and frailty-related factors with "Cognitive impairment, no dementia" (CIND) and to verify their effect independently of future progression to Alzheimer disease (AD). METHODS: Seven hundred eighteen subjects aged 75+ years who attended baseline, 3- and 6-year follow-up examinations of the Kungsholmen Project, a Swedish prospective cohort study, were studied. CIND was defined according to the performance on the Mini-Mental State Examination. Potential risk factors were collected at baseline and clustered according to four research hypotheses (frailty, vascular, neuropsychiatric, and social hypothesis), each representing a possible pathophysiological mechanism of CIND independently of subsequent development of AD. RESULTS: Over a mean 3.4 years of follow up, 82 participants (11.4%) developed CIND. When the population was subsequently followed for a mean of 2.7 years, subjects with CIND had a threefold increased risk to progress to AD. After multiple adjustments, including adjustment for the development of AD at the 6-year follow up, risk factors for CIND were hip fracture, polypharmacy, and psychoses. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that not only the AD-type neurodegenerative process, but also neuropsychiatric- and frailty-related factors may induce cognitive impairment in nondemented elderly. These findings may have relevant preventive and therapeutic implications