Serum thyroid-stimulating hormone as a predictor of cognitive impairment in an elderly cohort.

BACKGROUND: It is unclear whether in late life serum thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) predicts risk of developing cognitive impairment. OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the prospective relationship of serum TSH with the risk of developing mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD) in an elderly cohort with a 4-year follow-up. METHODS: Data are for 660 subjects aged 65 years and older from an Italian population-based cohort who were cognitively normal at an extensive assessment in 1999/2000 and underwent follow-up assessment in 2003/2004. Serum TSH was measured at baseline. Multinomial logistic models adjusted for sociodemographic and cardiovascular risk factors were used to investigate the association of serum TSH (both as a tertile and continuous log-transformed variable) with risk of incident MCI, AD and VaD diagnosed according to international criteria. RESULTS: Over 3.8 ± 0.7 years of follow-up, there were 149 incident MCI cases (77 with impairment of memory and 72 with impairment of nonmemory domains) and 86 incident dementia cases (53 with AD, 28 with VaD). No association between baseline TSH and risk of developing any MCI subtype or AD was found. The highest TSH tertile had a threefold higher increased risk of VaD (OR: 3.25, 95% CI: 1.01-10.77, p = 0.048) compared to the lowest tertile. Risk of VaD increased about 60% for each 1 SD increase in log-transformed TSH (OR: 1.61, 95% CI: 1.06-2.44, p = 0.025). CONCLUSIONS: In this elderly cohort, baseline TSH was not related to the risk of developing MCI or AD, but high TSH was associated with an increased risk of VaD. These results suggest further need for research using larger samples to examine the role of TSH as a predictor of VaD and the role of thyroid autoimmunity in vascular cognitive impairment.

Diagnostic performance of an Executive Clock Drawing Task (CLOX) as a screening test for mild cognitive impairment in elderly persons with cognitive complaints.

BACKGROUND: CLOX, a clock drawing test protocol uniquely sensitive to impairment of executive functions, has been proposed as a screening tool for mild cognitive impairment (MCI), but data about its diagnostic efficiency are lacking. METHODS: There are data for 196 subjects, age >or=60 years, referred to a memory clinic for cognitive complaints. After extensive neuropsychological testing, 64 were diagnosed as cognitively normal and 132 with MCI. RESULTS: At standard cutoffs, both CLOX subtests had a fair specificity (CLOX1 72%, CLOX2 92%) but unacceptably low values of sensitivity (CLOX1 54%, CLOX2 28%) and likelihood ratio (CLOX1 1.91, CLOX2 3.59) for MCI. The use of different cutoffs or the combination of CLOX with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) did not statistically increase diagnostic efficiency. CONCLUSION: CLOX, either alone or in combination with MMSE, is not a useful screening test for MCI in a clinical setting.

Blood inflammatory proteins and risk of incident depression in the elderly.

BACKGROUND: It is unclear whether high levels of blood inflammatory proteins are associated with the risk of developing depression in late life. METHODS: Blood C-reactive protein, interleukin (IL)-6, 1 -antichymotrypsin (ACT), intercellular adhesion molecule 1, and tumor necrosis factor were measured in an elderly cohort (n = 968). Major depression diagnosed according to clinical criteria and relevant depressive symptoms measured by the Geriatric Depression Scale (score 6 10) were assessed at baseline and 4 year later. RESULTS: Baseline IL-6 and ACT were increased in both prevalent major depression and relevant depressive symptoms. Baseline ACT was increased in incident major depression. All associations weakened below significance after adjustment for possible confounders and multiple comparisons. CONCLUSIONS: Blood inflammatory proteins do not predict the risk of developing depression in older age.

Appropriateness of Proton Pump Inhibitor (PPI) prescription in patients admitted to hospital: Attitudes of general practitioners and hospital physicians in Italy.

INTRODUCTION: Proton pump inhibitor (PPI) prescriptions have raised concern for both huge increase of health expenditure and possible long-term adverse effects. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate appropriateness of PPI prescription in ambulatory and hospital care. DESIGN: Observational cohort study. PATIENTS: Patients admitted to the Internal Medicine Unit of Bologna S. Orsola Hospital between 15/09/2013 and 15/12/2013. Data on clinical condition and drug therapy were collected at three time points: admission (reflecting GP's prescription), hospital stay and discharge. MAIN MEASURES: Appropriateness of PPI use was evaluated as follows: (1) agreement between PPI use/non-use and appropriate clinical condition; (2) in PPI users, assessment of Medication Appropriateness Index (MAI). Differences in appropriateness among time points were analyzed by chi-square test. Logistic regression model was used to identify possible determinants of PPI appropriateness. KEY RESULTS: Among 280 patients, 56% received PPI at least once in the three time points. Appropriateness, according to indication of use, was similar between admission and hospital stay (61% vs. 62%; p=0.82) and between hospital stay and discharge (62% vs. 59%; p=0.94). MAI score showed important, although statistically non-significant, change in appropriateness between admission and hospital stay (20% vs. 28%; p=0.16). Age≥65 was always associated with appropriate PPI use (up to OR=4.37; p<0.01), whereas cardiovascular comorbidity and conditions requiring analgesic treatment influenced appropriateness only at admission (OR=3.84; p<0.01 and OR=0.34; p<0.01, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Hospital clinicians only rarely reconsidered GP's choice to prescribe PPI. Room for improvement in PPI appropriateness is represented by (1) assessing gastrointestinal risk in each patient under analgesics and anti-inflammatory drugs, and (2) short-term re-evaluation of PPI prescription after discharge.

Serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate and adverse health outcomes in older men and women.

Low serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) is common in older persons with poor health. The geriatric syndrome of physical frailty is associated with a higher risk of developing fatal and nonfatal health outcomes. However, the association of DHEAS with frailty is uncertain. This study investigated the association of serum DHEAS with frailty and its related adverse outcomes in 416 men and 504 women aged ≥65 years from an Italian prospective population-based cohort study. At baseline, frailty status was defined according to the physical phenotype, and serum DHEAS was measured in a fasting venous blood sample. After 4 years, subjects were reassessed for incident frailty and occurrence of nonfatal frailty-related outcomes (hospital admission, nursing home placement, disability, falls, and fractures). All-cause mortality after 8 years was also recorded. Incident frailty was inversely associated with baseline log-transformed DHEAS in men (odds ratio [OR]=0.35, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.14-0.88, p=0.026) but not in women. Independent of baseline frailty status, women in the lowest DHEAS quartile compared to the upper three quartiles had a higher risk of hospital admission (OR=0.44, 95% CI 0.21-0.91, p=0.027) and nursing home placement (OR=0.27, 95% CI 0.08-0.95, p=0.041). Baseline log-transformed serum DHEAS was also inversely associated with mortality risk, but limited to women with concurrent frailty (hazard ratio [HR]=0.27, 95% CI 0.11-0.68, p=0.005) or preexisting major diseases (HR=0.57, 95% CI 0.33-0.98, p=0.041). These findings suggest that DHEAS is associated with incident frailty in older men and with fatal and nonfatal frailty-related adverse outcomes in older women.

A comparison of frailty indexes for prediction of adverse health outcomes in an elderly cohort.

This study aimed to compare the predictive accuracy for several frailty-related adverse health outcomes of a cumulative index derived from the Italian population-based elderly cohort of the Conselice Study of Brain Aging (CSBA), which takes into account multiple different domains (demographic, clinical, functional, and nutritional parameters), with that of an index derived from the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures (SOF), modified for application to the CSBA database and henceforth called mSOF, which is exclusively focused on muscular fitness. Data are for 1007 CSBA participants aged ≥ 65 years. Investigated adverse outcomes included 4- and 7-year risk of death and 4-year risk of fractures, falls, disability, hospitalization, and nursing home placement. Accuracy for prediction of these outcomes was investigated using area under the curve (AUC) statistics. CSBA index performed better than mSOF index for prediction of mortality (p<0.001), hospitalization (p=0.002), and nursing home placement (p=0.049). For all outcomes excluding falls, frailty defined by CSBA index had a slightly lower specificity but a much higher sensitivity than frailty defined by mSOF Index. In conclusion, in this elderly cohort, the multidimensional CSBA index is a better predictor of frailty-related adverse health outcomes than the unidimensional mSOF index.

Metabolic syndrome and risk of dementia in older adults.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the association between metabolic syndrome (MetS; a clustering of cardiovascular risk factors including abdominal obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and hyperglycemia, each of which has been individually associated with dementia) and incident dementia, Alzheimer's disease (AD), and vascular dementia (VaD) in older adults before and after the age of 75. DESIGN: Prospective population-based cohort. SETTING: An Italian municipality. PARTICIPANTS: A community-based sample of 749 subjects aged 65 and older who, in 1999/2000, were free of cognitive impairment and, in 2003/04, underwent follow-up for incident dementia. MEASUREMENTS: The relationship between incident overall dementia, AD, and VaD and MetS. Dementia was defined according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition. MetS was defined according to the National Cholesterol Education Program criteria. RESULTS: Risk of overall dementia and its subtypes was not associated with MetS or any MetS component in participants younger than 75. In participants aged 75 and older, MetS was associated with a lower risk of AD (hazard ratio (HR)=0.33, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.12-0.94) but not of VaD, and abdominal obesity was associated with a lower risk of overall dementia (HR=0.53, 95% CI=0.28-0.98). CONCLUSION: MetS measured in late life is not associated with risk of dementia. After age 75, persons with MetS may even be at lower risk for AD.

Blood homocysteine and risk of depression in the elderly.

We studied whether increased blood homocysteine is a predictor for incident depression in a population-based cohort aged >or=65. A total of 240 men and 217 women were identified at baseline and were assessed 4 years later for depression (Geriatric Depression Scale, GDS >or=10 or use of antidepressants). Risk of incident depression was estimated for the highest gender-specific tertile of baseline plasma homocysteine compared to the other tertiles combined in a reference group. As deficiencies of B(12) and folate are the main determinant of increased blood homocysteine in old age, serum concentrations of these vitamins were also measured. In women only, the highest homocysteine tertile was associated with incident depression. However, women with combined serum B(12)/folate deficiency had the highest blood homocysteine but also a lower depression risk than vitamin-replete women. In conclusion, the data only moderately support the hypothesis that blood homocysteine is a predictor of depression.