Frailty, psychological well-being, and social isolation in older adults with cognitive impairment during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: data from the GeroCovid initiative.

BACKGROUND: The containment measures linked to the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected the phyco-physical well-being of the population, especially older adults with neurocognitive disorders (NCDs). This study aims to evaluate whether the frailty of NCD patients was associated with different changes in multiple health domains, in particular in relation to loneliness and social isolation, pre- and post-lockdown. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients were recruited from 10 Italian Centers for Cognitive Disorders and Dementia. Data were collected in the pre-pandemic period (T0), during the pandemic lockdown (T1), and 6-9 months post-lockdown (T2). The UCLA Loneliness Scale-3, Activities of Daily Living (ADL), Instrumental ADL (IADL), Mini-Mental State Examination, and Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) were administered. Caregivers' burden was also tested. Patients were categorized as non-frail, pre-frail, and frail according to the Fatigue, Resistance, Ambulation, Illness, and Loss of Weight scale. RESULTS: The sample included 165 subjects (61.9% women, mean age 79.5 ± 4.9 years). In the whole sample, the ADL, IADL, and NPI scores significantly declined between T0 and T2. There were no significative variations in functional and cognitive domains between the frail groups. During lockdown we recorded higher Depression Anxiety Stress Scales and Perceived Stress Scale scores in frail people. In multivariable logistic regression, frailty was associated with an increase in social isolation, and a loss of IADL. CONCLUSIONS: We observed a global deterioration in functional and neuro-psychiatric domains irrespective of the degree of frailty. Frailty was associated with the worsening of social isolation during lockdown. Frail patients and their caregivers seemed to experience more anxiety and stress disorders during SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

Measuring global functioning in older adults with cognitive impairments using the Rasch model.

BACKGROUND: Cognitive and functional measures are often measured and interpreted separately during the clinical evaluation of patients with cognitive impairment. This can sometimes lead to a challenging interpretation when measures do not show concordance, especially after a clinical intervention. In this study, the development and evaluation of a new approach, using the Rasch model, that combines cognitive and functional measures in one single and more powerful measure (compared to stand-alone tests) to assess global functioning in older adults with cognitive impairment (including dementia) was presented. METHODS: Clinical data from 265 older adults' subjects diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment, or dementia, included: The Mini-mental state examination (MMSE), the Esame Neuropsicologico Breve (ENB) - a neuropsychological battery used in Italy-, the Activities of Daily Living (ADL), and the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) questionnaires. RESULTS: Patients with severe cognitive impairment showed lower global functioning score compared to patients with moderate impairment. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were performed to determine sensitivity and specificity of the global functioning score resulting from the combined measure. Results showed that the global functioning score discriminates better between patients with severe and moderate cognitive impairment compared to the ENB, ADL, and IADL when considered separately. CONCLUSIONS: The Rasch model was able to combine cognitive and functional measures into a single score (global functioning score). All together, these results suggest that the diverse cognitive and functional measures can be considered part of one single dimension (global functioning) and that this dimension can be measured as a single construct and score. This study offers an alternative perspective for future development of instruments that would help clinicians in measuring global functioning in older adults' patients at different stages of cognitive impairments and different baseline level of performance.

Multidimensional Prognostic Index predicts mortality and length of stay during hospitalization in the older patients: a multicenter prospective study.

BACKGROUND: The Multidimensional Prognostic Index (MPI) is a validated predictive tool for long-term mortality based on information collected in a standardized Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment. We investigated whether the MPI is an effective predictor of intrahospital mortality and length of hospital stay after admission to acute geriatric wards. METHODS: Prospective study of 1,178 older patients (702 women and 476 men, 85.0±6.8 years) admitted to 20 geriatrics units. Within 48 hours from admission, the MPI, according to an earlier validated algorithm, was calculated. Subjects were divided into three groups of MPI score, low-risk (MPI-1 value ≤ 0.33), moderate-risk (MPI-2 value 0.34-0.66), and severe-risk of mortality (MPI-3 value ≥ 0.67), on the basis of earlier established cut-offs. Associations with in-hospital mortality and length of stay were examined using multivariable Cox regression models and adjusted Poisson linear mixed-effects models, respectively. RESULTS: At admission, 23.6% subjects had a MPI-1 score, 33.8% had a MPI-2 score, and 42.6% had a MPI-3 score. Subjects with higher MPI score at admission were older (p < .001), more frequently women (p < .001) and had higher prevalence of common chronic conditions. After adjustment for age, gender, and diseases, patients included in the MPI-2 and MPI-3 groups had a significantly higher risk for intrahospital mortality (hazard ratio: 3.48, 95% confidence intervals: 1.02-11.88, p = .047; hazard ratio: 8.31, 95% confidence intervals: 2.54-27.19, p < .001) than patients included in the MPI-1 group, respectively. In multivariable model, length of stay significantly increased across the three MPI groups (11.29 [0.5], 13.73 [1.3], and 15.30 [1.4] days, respectively [p < .0001]). CONCLUSIONS: In older acute care inpatients, MPI score assessed at hospital admission is an independent predictor of in-hospital mortality and the length of hospital stay.

Development and validation of a Multidimensional Prognostic Index for mortality based on a standardized Multidimensional Assessment Schedule (MPI-SVaMA) in community-dwelling older subjects.

OBJECTIVES: To develop and validate a Multidimensional Prognostic Index (MPI) for mortality based on information collected by the Multidimensional Assessment Schedule (SVaMA), the recommended standard tool for multidimensional assessment of community-dwelling older subjects in seven Italian regions. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. PARTICIPANTS: Community-dwelling subjects older than 65 years who underwent an SVaMA evaluation from 2004 to 2010 in Padova Health District, Veneto, Italy. MEASUREMENTS: The MPI-SVaMA was calculated as a weighted (weights were derived from multivariate Cox regressions) linear combination of the following nine domains: age, sex, main diagnosis, and six scores, ie, the Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire, the Barthel index (contains two domains: activities of daily living and mobility), the Exton-Smith scale, the Nursing Care Needs, and the Social Network Support by a structured interview. Subjects were followed for a median of 2 years; those who had not died were followed for at least 1 year. The MPI-SVaMA score ranged from 0 to 1 and 3 grades of severity of the MPI-SVaMA were calculated on the basis of estimated cutoffs. Discriminatory power and calibration were further assessed. RESULTS: A total of 12,020 subjects (mean age 81.84 ± 7.97 years) were included. Two random cohorts were selected: (1) a development cohort, ie, 7876 subjects (mean age 81.79 ± 8.05, %females: 63.1) and (2) a validation cohort, ie, 4144 subjects (mean age: 81.95 ± 7.83, %females: 63.7). The discriminatory power for mortality of MPI-SVaMA was 0.828 (95% CI 0.817-0.838) and 0.832 (95% CI 0.818-0.845) at 1 month and 0.791 (95% CI 0.784-0.798) and 0.792 (95% CI 0.783-0.802) at 1 year in development and validation cohorts, respectively. MPI-SVaMA results were well calibrated showing lower than 10% differences between predicted and observed mortality, both in development and validation cohorts. CONCLUSIONS: The MPI-SVaMA is an accurate and well-calibrated prognostic tool for mortality in community-dwelling older subjects, and can be used in clinical decision making.