Profiling iNPH features through cluster analysis: an aid for clinical suspicion and diagnosis.

PURPOSE: Idiopathic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (iNPH) is a neurological syndrome defined by gait disturbance, cognitive impairment and urinary incontinence. However, its clinical presentation can vary widely due to overlapping syndromes and common comorbidities in older adults. This study aims to provide practical guidance to aid in the clinical suspicion and support the diagnostic and therapeutic processes for these patients. METHODS: Six quantitative variables regarding clinical, functional, and demographic aspects were considered for a large sample of patients with diagnosed iNPH. Principal component analysis (PCA) was adopted to define the main dimensions explaining the variability of the phenomenon. Then, two clusters of iNPH patients were described. RESULTS: 178 patients were included in the analysis. The PCA produced two dimensions covering 61.8% of the total variability. The first one relied mainly on both clinical (mRS, iNPHGs) and functional (TUG, Tinetti) variables, while the second one was represented mainly on the demographic pattern (age and education). Cluster analysis depicted two main groups of patients. Cluster n.1 is composed of individuals who are older, more disabled, with poor functional performances, and highly symptomatic. Cluster n.2 patients are slightly younger, more educated, fitter, and with more nuanced clinical aspects. CONCLUSIONS: Profiling iNPH patients using quantitative variables and cluster analysis can help identify distinct characteristics of these patients, aiding in the guidance of both medical and surgical interventions.

Risk of Exclusion From Stroke Rehabilitation in the Oldest Old.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether oldest-old age (≥85y) is an independent predictor of exclusion from stroke rehabilitation. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Stroke unit (SU) of a tertiary hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Elderly patients (N=1055; aged 65-74y, n=230; aged 75-84y, n=432; aged ≥85y, n=393) who, between 2009 and 2012, were admitted to the SU with acute stroke and evaluated by a multiprofessional team for access to rehabilitation. The study excluded patients for whom rehabilitation was unnecessary or inappropriate. INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Access to an early mobilization (EM) protocol during SU stay and subsequent access to postacute rehabilitation after SU discharge. Analyses were adjusted for prestroke and stroke-related characteristics. RESULTS: 32.2% of patients were excluded from EM. Multivariable-adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of EM exclusion were 1.30 (95% confidence interval [CI], .76-2.21) for ages 75 to 84 years and 2.07 (95% CI, 1.19-3.59) for ages ≥85 years compared with ages 65 to 74 years. Of 656 patients admitted to EM and who, at SU discharge, had not yet fully recovered their prestroke functional status, 18.4% were excluded from postacute rehabilitation. For patients able to walk unassisted at SU discharge, the probability of exclusion did not change across age groups. For patients unable to walk unassisted at SU discharge, ORs of exclusion from postacute rehabilitation were 3.74 (95% CI, 1.26-11.13) for ages 75 to 84 years and 9.15 (95% CI, 3.05-27.46) for ages ≥85 years compared with ages 65 to 74 years. CONCLUSIONS: Oldest-old age is an independent predictor of exclusion from stroke rehabilitation.

The Effect of Age on Characteristics and Mortality of Intracerebral Hemorrhage in the Oldest-Old.

BACKGROUND: Incidence of acute intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) increases with age, but there is a lack of information about ICH characteristics in the oldest-old (age ≥85 years). In particular, there is a need for information about hematoma volume, which is included in most clinical scales for prediction of mortality in ICH patients. Many of these scales also assume that, independent of ICH characteristics, the oldest-old have a higher mortality than younger elderly patients (age 65-74 years). However, supporting evidence from cohort studies is limited. We investigated ICH characteristics of oldest-old subjects compared to young (<65 years), young-old (65-74 years) and old-old (75-84 years) subjects. We also investigated whether age is an independent mortality predictor in elderly (age ≥65 years) subjects with acute ICH. METHODS: We retrospectively collected clinical and neuroimaging data of 383 subjects (age 34-104 years) with acute supratentorial primary ICH who were admitted to an Italian Stroke Unit (SU) between October 2007 and December 2014. Measured ICH characteristics included hematoma location, volume and intraventricular extension of hemorrhage on admission CT scan; admission Glasgow Coma Scale ≤8 and hematoma expansion (HE) measured on follow-up CT-scans obtained after 24 h. General linear models and logistic models were used to investigate the association of age with ICH characteristics. These models were adjusted for pre-admission characteristics, hematoma location and time from symptom onset to admission CT scan. Limited to elderly subjects, Cox models were used to investigate the association of age with in-SU and 1-year mortality: the model for in-SU mortality adjusted for pre-admission and ICH admission characteristics and the model for 1-year mortality additionally adjusted for functional status and disposition at SU discharge. RESULTS: Independent of pre-admission characteristics, hematoma location and time from symptom onset to admission CT-scan, oldest-old subjects had the highest admission hematoma volume (p < 0.01). Age was unrelated to all other ICH characteristics including HE. In elderly patients, multivariable adjusted risk of in-SU and 1-year mortality did not vary across age categories. CONCLUSIONS: Oldest-old subjects with acute supratentorial ICH have higher admission hematoma volume than young and young-old subjects but do not differ for other ICH characteristics. When taking into account confounding from ICH characteristics, risk of in-SU and 1-year mortality in elderly subjects with acute supratentorial ICH does not differ across age categories. Our findings question use of age as an independent criterion for stratification of mortality risk in elderly subjects with acute ICH.

Combination of the clock drawing test with the physical phenotype of frailty for the prediction of mortality and other adverse outcomes in older community dwellers without dementia.

BACKGROUND: Cognitive assessment is thought to increase the ability of the physical phenotype of frailty to identify older persons at a higher risk for adverse outcomes. OBJECTIVE: Data from a cohort of dementia-free community dwellers were used to investigate whether the clock drawing test (CDT), a quick and easy cognitive screening test, is associated with adverse health outcomes independently of the physical phenotype of frailty. METHODS: This was a prospective population-based cohort study of 766 dementia-free Italian community dwellers aged 65 years or older. Baseline assessment included the physical phenotype of frailty, 3 different CDT protocols [Sunderland, Shulman, and the clock drawing interpretation scale (CDIS)], and several health confounders. Hazard ratios (HR) and odds ratio (OR) along with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) from models adjusted for frailty and sociodemographic and health confounders were used to estimate the independent association of the CDT with the 7-year risk of all-cause mortality and the 3-year risk of new and worsening disability, hospitalization, and fractures. RESULTS: After adjustment for confounders, the Sunderland CDT was significantly associated with all-cause mortality independently of the physical phenotype of frailty (HR = 1.44, 95% CI 1.03-2.01, p = 0.031). However, compared to all nonfrail participants with a normal Sunderland CDT, the HR was 1.57 (95% CI 1.09-2.26, p = 0.016) for those with impairment on the Sunderland CDT only, 2.48 (95% CI 1.46-4.20, p = 0.001) for those with frailty only, and 2.52 (95% CI 1.34-4.77, p = 0.004) for those with both frailty and impairment on the Sunderland CDT. Mortality was unrelated to the CDIS CDT (p = 0.359) and the Shulman CDT (p = 0.281). No statistically significant relationship was found between nonlethal outcomes and any CDT protocol, although trends were found for an association of both the Sunderland CDT (p = 0.118) and the CDIS CDT with worsening disability (p = 0.154). CONCLUSIONS: In older persons, depending on the scoring system, the CDT may predict the mortality risk independently of the physical phenotype of frailty. However, combining the two measurements does not improve their individual prognostic abilities.

The Prognostic Significance of Early Glycemic Profile in Acute Ischemic Stroke Depends on Stroke Subtype.

It is still unclear whether early glycemic profile after admission for acute ischemic stroke (IS) has the same prognostic significance in patients with lacunar and non-lacunar infarction. Data from 4011 IS patients admitted to a Stroke Unit (SU) were retrospectively analyzed. Lacunar IS was diagnosed by clinical criteria. A continuous indicator of early glycemic profile was calculated as the difference of fasting serum glucose (FSG) measured within 48 h after admission and random serum glucose (RSG) measured on admission. Logistic regression was used to estimate the association with a combined poor outcome defined as early neurological deterioration, severe stroke at SU discharge, or 1-month mortality. Among patients without hypoglycemia (RSG and FSG > 3.9 mmol/L), an increasing glycemic profile increased the likelihood of a poor outcome for non-lacunar (OR, 1.38, 95%CI, 1.24-1.52 in those without diabetes; 1.11, 95%CI, 1.05-1.18 in those with diabetes) but not for lacunar IS. Among patients without sustained or delayed hyperglycemia (FSG < 7.8 mmol/L), an increasing glycemic profile was unrelated to outcome for non-lacunar IS but decreased the likelihood of poor outcome for lacunar IS (OR, 0.63, 95%CI, 0.41-0.98). Early glycemic profile after acute IS has a different prognostic significance in non-lacunar and lacunar patients.

Association of early glycemic change with short-term mortality in lobar and non-lobar intracerebral hemorrhage.

The association between early glycemic change and short-term mortality in non-diabetic patients with acute intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is unclear. We retrospectively investigated non-diabetic patients with lobar (n = 262) and non-lobar ICH (n = 370). Each patient had a random serum glucose test on hospital admission and a fasting serum glucose test within the following 48 h. Hyperglycemia was defined as serum glucose ≥ 7.8 mmol/l. Four patterns were determined: no hyperglycemia (reference category), persistent hyperglycemia, delayed hyperglycemia, and decreasing hyperglycemia. Associations with 30-day mortality were estimated using Cox models adjusted for major features of ICH severity. Persistent hyperglycemia was associated with 30-day mortality in both lobar (HR 3.00; 95% CI 1.28-7.02) and non-lobar ICH (HR 4.95; 95% CI 2.20-11.09). In lobar ICH, 30-day mortality was also associated with delayed (HR 4.10; 95% CI 1.77-9.49) and decreasing hyperglycemia (HR 2.01, 95% CI 1.09-3.70). These findings were confirmed in Cox models using glycemic change (fasting minus random serum glucose) as a continuous variable. Our study shows that, in non-diabetic patients with ICH, early persistent hyperglycemia is an independent predictor of short-term mortality regardless of hematoma location. Moreover, in non-diabetic patients with lobar ICH, both a positive and a negative glycemic change are associated with short-term mortality.

Association of prestroke glycemic status with stroke mortality.

OBJECTIVE: The role of diabetes as a predictor of mortality after stroke remains uncertain, and there are very few data for pre-diabetes. This study investigated the association of pre-diabetes and diabetes with 30-day and 1-year mortality after ischemic stroke (IS) and primary intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Between 2006 and 2013, 2076 patients with IS and 586 patients with ICH (median age 79) were admitted to hospital within 24 hours after stroke onset and were treated in a stroke unit, where they underwent measurement of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c). Diabetes was retrospectively defined based on medical history, diagnosis during hospital stay or HbA1c ≥6.5% (48 mmol/mol). Pre-diabetes was defined as HbA1c of 5.7%-6.4% (39-47 mmol/mol). Stroke severity was measured using the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS). HRs were used to test the association of pre-diabetes and diabetes with 30-day and 1-year mortality after stroke onset. RESULTS: Among patients with IS, 830 had pre-diabetes and 632 had diabetes; 280 died within 30 days and the other 77 within 1 year. Among patients with ICH, 106 had pre-diabetes and 56 had diabetes; 150 died within 30 days and the other 92 within 1 year. In both stroke subtypes, pre-diabetes and diabetes were associated with higher 30-day mortality. In IS, however, the association was limited to patients with prestroke disability and very severe stroke. At NIHSS 25, HR was 1.58 (95% CI 1.07 to 2.35) for pre-diabetes and 1.67 (95% CI 1.14 to 2.46) for diabetes compared with normoglycemia. In ICH, the association was limited to women for pre-diabetes (HR 1.93, 95% CI 1.15 to 3.24) and to men for diabetes (HR 1.78, 95% CI 1.02 to 3.12). Prestroke glycemic status was unrelated to 1-year mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Both pre-diabetes and diabetes predict short-term mortality after acute stroke, but the association varies depending on both prestroke and stroke-related characteristics. These findings may explain the heterogeneous results obtained by previous studies.

Age-specific rate of undiagnosed diabetes and prediabetes in acute stroke.

AIMS: We investigated age-specific rates of undiagnosed diabetes and prediabetes among patients with acute stroke. METHODS: We used data from 2223 patients with acute stroke consecutively admitted to an Italian Stroke Unit (SU) between 2010 and 2015. Information from medical records and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) measured on admission was retrospectively used to screen for diabetes and prediabetes defined according to standard criteria. RESULTS: Overall rate of diabetes undiagnosed at admission and diabetes still undiagnosed at SU discharge were 9.7% and 6.7% but age-specific prevalence peaked up to 12.0% and 9.0% after age 80. At admission, the proportion of all undiagnosed diabetes on total diabetes cases was one out of every two cases before age 60 and three out of every four cases after age 80. In these same age intervals, one out of every three diabetes cases was still undiagnosed at SU discharge. Regardless of age, about three out of ten patients with acute stroke had prediabetes. Less than 2% of these patients had a prediabetes diagnosis before or after SU admission. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with acute stroke, diabetes is substantially underdiagnosed before age 60 and after age 80. Prediabetes is highly prevalent but mostly undiagnosed at all ages.

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. RESULTS: Dementia developed in 71 women (46 AD, 21 VaD) and 39 men (23 AD, 12 VaD). In women with high E2 (serum E2 >or= 10 pg/mL), the multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for dementia was 1.75 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.06-2.89). The corresponding multivariable-adjusted HR for AD was 1.94 (95% CI, 1.04-3.61), whereas no association was found for VaD. No association with dementia was found for serum FT in women and for either serum E2 or FT in men. CONCLUSION: High serum E2 is an independent predictor for dementia and AD in elderly women.

Metabolic Syndrome: prevalence and prediction of mortality in elderly individuals.

OBJECTIVE: Little is known about the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome among elderly people in Italy, its association with all-cause mortality, and whether measurement of serum C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin (IL)-6 affects this association. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: The baseline prevalence of metabolic syndrome, diagnosed according to the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) criteria, and all-cause mortality at 4 years were recorded in an Italian population-based cohort (981 subjects, 55% women, aged 65-97 years). A Cox model adjusted for sociodemographic, lifestyle, and medical variables was used to investigate 1) whether metabolic syndrome was a predictor of mortality and 2) how the association was affected by baseline high CRP (>3 mg/l) and IL-6 (>1.33 pg/ml). RESULTS: Overall, metabolic syndrome prevalence was 27.2% [95% CI 24.0-30.5] and higher in women (33.3% [28.7-38.0]) than in men (19.6% [15.5-24.2]). During follow-up, 137 deaths occurred. Using the no metabolic syndrome/no high IL-6 group as the reference, mortality was not associated with the metabolic syndrome alone (multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio 1.24 [0.60-2.59]), only weakly associated with high IL-6 alone (1.66 [1.04-2.63]), but strongly associated with the concurrent presence of metabolic syndrome and high IL-6 (3.26 [2.00-5.33]). High CRP was not a mortality predictor (0.83 [0.58-1.20]) nor did it affect the association of the other variables with mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Metabolic syndrome by NCEP criteria is highly prevalent in the Italian elderly population. It is not itself associated with mortality but may improve the usefulness of IL-6 as a mortality predictor in older age.

Daily Variation in the Occurrence of Different Subtypes of Stroke.

Three thousand two hundred and ninety-eight patients admitted to our Stroke Unit with hemorrhagic, large artery atherosclerosis, cardioembolic, small-vessel occlusion, and undetermined etiology-cryptogenic strokes were included in the study. The circadian variability in onset in each stroke subgroup and the associations with various risk factors were analyzed. In each subgroup, a significant minority of patients suffered from stroke during sleep. In the ischemic group, hypercholesterolemia, paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, and previous myocardial infarction facilitated the onset during waking. During waking, stroke onset was significantly higher in the morning compared to the afternoon both in the hemorrhagic and in the ischemic type. In hemorrhagic stroke, a previous stroke was associated with a lower early morning occurrence. In large artery atherosclerosis stroke, males were at higher risk of early morning occurrence (p < 0.01). In small-vessel occlusion stroke, hypertension is significantly more present in the morning compared to the afternoon onset (p < 0.005). Circadian patterns of stroke onset were observed both in hemorrhagic and in ischemic stroke, irrespective of the ischemic subgroup. In all groups, stroke was more likely to occur during waking than during sleep and, in the diurnal period, during morning than during afternoon. Moreover, sex and some clinical factors influence the diurnal pattern.

Apolipoprotein E e4 allele affects risk of hyperhomocysteinemia in the elderly.

BACKGROUND: Apolipoprotein E (APOE) plays a central role in VLDL metabolism. Both APOE e4 allele (APOE4) and C-reactive protein (CRP) are associated with greater risk of dementia and vascular disease, but APOE4 carriers have lower blood concentrations of CRP than do noncarriers, possibly through a mechanism favoring the clearance of the CRP VLDL-bound fraction. Homocysteine, another risk factor for vascular disease and dementia, also binds to VLDL in blood. However, the association between APOE4 and hyperhomocysteinemia has never been thoroughly investigated. OBJECTIVE: We investigated in an elderly population whether 1) APOE4 is associated with hyperhomocysteinemia [plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) > 15 micromol/L], 2) hyperhomocysteinemia affects the association between APOE4 and high CRP (serum CRP > 3 mg/L), and 3) B vitamin status affects these associations. DESIGN: APOE4 genotypes were assessed and tHcy, CRP, and serum concentrations of folate and vitamin B-12 were measured in 671 cognitively healthy subjects (52% women; mean age: 73 y) from an Italian population-based prospective cohort study. RESULTS: APOE4 carriers without high CRP [multivariate-adjusted odds ratio (OR): 0.22; 95% CI: 0.08, 0.59] had a lower risk of hyperhomocysteinemia than did noncarriers. The risk of high CRP was lower in APOE4 carriers without hyperhomocysteinemia (multivariate-adjusted OR: 0.51; 95% CI: 0.31, 0.85) than in noncarriers. The associations were not affected by B vitamin status. CONCLUSION: Independently from B vitamin status, APOE4 carriers have a lower risk of hyperhomocysteinemia and of high CRP than do noncarriers, but the presence of one condition attenuates the association of APOE4 with the other condition.

Interleukin-1beta and interleukin-6 gene polymorphisms as risk factors for AD: a prospective study.

Risk of incident dementia from any cause and Alzheimer's disease (AD) in relation to the IL-1beta-511 (C-->T) and IL-6-174 (G-->C) polymorphisms was investigated in an Italian elderly cohort (n=791) with 4 years of follow-up. Analyses were adjusted for socio-demographic confounders (age, gender, education), presence of the Apolipoprotein E-epsilon4 allele, and plasma total homocysteine (tHcy), a newly proposed AD risk factor. No significant association was found for the IL-1beta-511 and IL-6-174 polymorphisms with either dementia or AD. However, in the baseline dementia-free cohort considered as a whole, independently of other confounders, IL-1beta-511 T/T homozygotes had lower plasma tHcy than both heterozygotes (P=0.036) and wild-types (P=0.004). These data do not support the hypothesis that the IL-1-beta-511 and IL-6-174 polymorphisms affect dementia or AD risk. The relationship between the AD risk factor plasma tHcy and the IL-1beta-511 polymorphism was never reported before and might explain previous cross-sectional reports of an association between this polymorphism and AD.

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. The risk of conversion to dementia associated with atrial fibrillation was studied in both samples using a Cox proportional hazards model adjusted for socio-demographic and medical variables. RESULTS: Overall conversion rate to dementia was 10.5 (8.0-13.8 per 100 person-years) in the MCI group and 2.2 (1.5-3.1 per 100 person-years) in the normal cognition group. Atrial fibrillation was significantly associated with conversion to dementia [hazard ratio (HR): 4.63; 95% confidence interval: 1.72-12.46] in the MCI group but not in the cognitively normal group (HR: 1.10; 95% confidence interval: 0.40-3.03). DISCUSSION: Current diagnostic criteria for MCI subtypes define heterogeneous populations, but atrial fibrillation can be useful in identifying people with increased risk of conversion to dementia.

Homocysteinemia and early outcome of acute ischemic stroke in elderly patients.

OBJECTIVES: Plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) is a risk factor for ischemic stroke (IS) but its relationship with IS outcome is uncertain. Moreover, previous studies underrepresented older IS patients, although risk of both hyperhomocysteinemia and IS increases with age. We investigated whether, in elderly patients with acute IS, tHcy measured on admission to the Stroke Unit (SU) is an independent predictor of SU discharge outcomes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data are for 644 consecutive patients aged 80.3 ± 8.7 years, admitted to an Italian SU with diagnosis of acute IS. Plasma tHcy was measured on SU admission. Investigated outcomes included mortality during SU stay and poor functional status (modified Rankin Scale score ≥3) at SU discharge for survivors. The association of plasma tHcy with the study outcomes was assessed using Odds Ratios (OR) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) from logistic regression models adjusted for demographics, pre-stroke features, IS severity, and laboratory data on SU admission (serum C-reactive protein, serum albumin, and renal function). RESULTS: Median plasma tHcy was 16.7 µmol/L (interquartile range, 13.0-23.3 µmol/L). Outcome incidence was 5.3% for mortality and 49.7% for poor functional status. Plasma tHcy was unrelated to mortality in both univariate and multivariable-adjusted analyses. Conversely, plasma tHcy was associated with poor functional status of survivors in univariate analyses (P = 0.014). Multivariable-adjusted analyses showed that, compared to normal homocysteinemia (tHcy <16 µmol/L), risk of being discharged with poor functional status significantly increased for moderate (tHcy ≥30 mol/L) but not mild (16.0-29.9 µmol/L) hyperhomocysteinemia. CONCLUSIONS: In elderly patients with acute IS, high admission plasma tHcy is unrelated to mortality during SU stay but is an independent predictor of poor functional status at SU discharge in survivors. The association, however, is limited to patients with moderate hyperhomocysteinemia.

Homocysteine and folate as risk factors for dementia and Alzheimer disease.

BACKGROUND: In cross-sectional studies, elevated plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) concentrations have been associated with cognitive impairment and dementia. Incidence studies of this issue are few and have produced conflicting results. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the relation between high plasma tHcy concentrations and risk of dementia and Alzheimer disease (AD) in an elderly population. DESIGN: A dementia-free cohort of 816 subjects (434 women and 382 men; mean age: 74 y) from an Italian population-based study constituted our study sample. The relation of baseline plasma tHcy to the risk of newly diagnosed dementia and AD on follow-up was examined. A proportional hazards regression model was used to adjust for age, sex, education, apolipoprotein E genotype, vascular risk factors, and serum concentrations of folate and vitamin B-12. RESULTS: Over an average follow-up of 4 y, dementia developed in 112 subjects, including 70 who received a diagnosis of AD. In the subjects with hyperhomocysteinemia (plasma tHcy > 15 micromol/L), the hazard ratio for dementia was 2.08 (95% CI: 1.31, 3.30; P = 0.002). The corresponding hazard ratio for AD was 2.11 (95% CI: 1.19, 3.76; P = 0.011). Independently of hyperhomocysteinemia and other confounders, low folate concentrations (< or = 11.8 nmol/L) were also associated with an increased risk of both dementia (1.87; 95% CI: 1.21, 2.89; P = 0.005) and AD (1.98; 95% CI: 1.15, 3.40; P = 0.014), whereas the association was not significant for vitamin B-12. CONCLUSIONS: Elevated plasma tHcy concentrations and low serum folate concentrations are independent predictors of the development of dementia and AD.

Folate, but not homocysteine, predicts the risk of fracture in elderly persons.

BACKGROUND: Recent prospective studies reported that increased plasma homocysteine levels are an independent predictor of osteoporotic fracture in elderly persons. These studies, however, did not take into account folate and vitamin B12, which are the major nutritional determinants of homocysteinemia. METHODS: Incident osteoporotic fractures were assessed in 702 Italian participants aged 65-94 years with a mean follow-up of 4 years (1999/2000-2003/2004). A multivariable logistic regression model was used to study the relation of baseline plasma homocysteine, serum folate, and serum vitamin B12 with risk of fracture. RESULTS: After adjustment for sociodemographic and clinical confounders, the odds ratio (OR) for each increase of 1 standard deviation in log-transformed plasma homocysteine was 1.39 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01-1.91), but decreased to 1.22 (95% CI, 0.85-1.74) after further adjustment for serum folate and vitamin B12. The corresponding multivariable-adjusted OR for hyperhomocysteinemia (plasma total homocysteine [tHcy] > 15 micromoL) was 1.58 (95% CI, 0.71-3.53). Participants in the lowest serum folate quartile (< or =9.3 nmol/L) had an increased risk of fracture than did those in higher quartiles (multivariable-adjusted OR = 2.06; 95% CI. 1.02-4.18), but no dose-related protective effect for increasing serum folate levels was found (multivariable-adjusted OR = 0.84 for each increase of 1 standard deviation in log-transformed serum folate, 95% CI, 0.59-1.19). No independent association was found for serum vitamin B12. CONCLUSIONS: Low serum folate is responsible for the association between homocysteine and risk of osteoporotic fracture in elderly persons.

Serum C-reactive protein and cognitive function in healthy elderly Italian community dwellers.

BACKGROUND: Chronic low-grade inflammation, as measured with the peripheral serum marker C-reactive protein (sCRP), may be a risk factor for dementia in elderly persons. METHODS: The relationship between sCRP and score on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), a commonly used screening cognitive measure, was investigated in 540 well functioning, healthy, and cognitively normal elders (age 73 +/- 6 years). Sociodemographic status, lifestyle, health status, traditional and nontraditional cardiovascular risk factors including plasma total homocysteine (tHcy), and other peripheral blood markers of vascular inflammation (leukocyte count, serum albumin, and plasma fibrinogen) were also assessed. RESULTS: Risk for having sCRP in the highest decile (>0.7 mg/dl) was significantly higher in individuals with MMSE score 24-25 (odds ratio = 3.07, 95% confidence interval, 1.2-7.9) and 26-28 (odds ratio = 2.10, 95% confidence interval, 1.1-3.9) compared with those scoring above 28 (reference group). Results were unaffected by adjustment for all potential confounders. No association was found between MMSE and peripheral markers of vascular inflammation other than sCRP, but lower MMSE scores were also independently associated with hyperhomocysteinemia (plasma tHcy > 15 mmol/L). CONCLUSION: In healthy, cognitively normal elderly community dwellers, increased sCRP levels are associated with concurrent cognitive impairment as measured by MMSE. The association is independent of sociodemographic status, lifestyle, health status, and traditional and nontraditional cardiovascular risk factors including hyperhomocysteinemia. Results support the hypothesis that chronic low-grade inflammation may be involved in age-related cognitive impairment.

Thyroid function tests and early outcomes of acute ischemic stroke in older euthyroid patients.

Blood thyroid function tests (TFT) are routinely used to screen for thyroid disorders in several clinical settings. TFT on hospital admission may also be useful prognostic predictors of acute IS: according to recent evidence, poststroke outcome is better in patients with lower thyroid function and worse in those with higher thyroid function. However, previous reports are few and mostly compared patients with thyroid disorders to euthyroid patients. Thyroid disorders are known risk factors for cerebrovascular disease. However, hyperthyroidism is related to cardioembolic IS whereas hypothyroidism is related to atherosclerotic risk factors. Therefore, findings from available studies of TFT might just reflect the worse prognosis of cardioembolic IS compared to other IS subtypes. Another limitation of previous studies is the lack of information for older persons, who represent three quarters of all IS patients. In this paper, we investigated whether serum thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), free thyroxine (FT4) and free triiodothyronine (FT3) measured on Stroke Unit (SU) admission are associated with early outcomes of acute IS in 775 euthyroid patients aged ≥65 years (mean age 80.1±8.7 years). Two composite outcomes were investigated: poor functional outcome (death during SU stay or disability at SU discharge), and unfavorable discharge setting (death during SU stay, transfer from SU to other acute hospital unit or transfer from SU to long-term care-facilities as opposed to direct discharge home). Analyses were performed using logistic regression models. Curvilinear associations were tested including TFT as polynomial terms. Models were adjusted for demographics, prestroke, and IS-related confounders. We found that lower TSH had a complex curvilinear association with poor functional outcome and that the shape of the associations changed with age. At age 65, the curve was U-shaped: outcome risk decreased with increasing TSH, reached its minimum at TSH near 3.00mUI/L and then started to rise. Between ages 70 and 75, however, the shape of the curve straightened and, starting from age 80 took an inverted U-shape: outcome risk rose with increasing TSH, reached its maximum at TSH values that progressively shifted upward with increasing age (from 1.70mU/L at age 80 to about 2.20mUI/L at age 90), then started to decrease. A linear inverse association was found between FT3 and unfavorable discharge setting. Our study suggests that measurement of TFT on SU admission can provide independent prognostic information for early outcomes of acute IS in older euthyroid patients.

Plasma amino acid concentrations in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer disease.

BACKGROUND: Plasma concentrations of several amino acids may affect the availability of important neurotransmitter precursors in the brain. Abnormalities in the plasma amino acid profile have been reported in elderly persons with cognitive impairment, but no data exist for the prodromal phase of Alzheimer disease (AD), which is characterized by amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). OBJECTIVE: The objective was to investigate whether the plasma amino acid profiles of elderly patients with aMCI or AD are abnormal. DESIGN: The plasma amino acid profile was assessed in 29 cognitively normal control subjects (age: 86.7 +/- 5.9 y), 21 patients with aMCI (age: 84.9 +/- 7.0 y), and 51 patients with AD (age: 86.7 +/- 5.4 y). The participants were from the University of Bologna Research Center for Physiopathology of Aging, Italy. RESULTS: Higher plasma concentrations of the aromatic amino acid phenylalanine were found in the aMCI (68 micromol/L; 95% CI: 63, 73) and AD (62 micromol/L; 95% CI: 59, 65) patients than in the control subjects (54 micromol/L; 95% CI: 48, 61; P < 0.05). The ratio of arginine to other basic amino acids was also higher in the aMCI (0.31 +/- 0.04) and AD (0.27 +/- 0.08) patients than in the control subjects (0.21 +/- 0.05; P < 0.05). Adjustment for differences in body composition, serum vitamin B-12 concentrations, and serum folate concentrations did not significantly affect the results. CONCLUSIONS: The plasma amino acid profiles of elderly patients with aMCI or AD show abnormalities in aromatic and basic amino acids that potentially affect neurotransmitter biosynthesis.