Cognitive Dysfunction in Urban-Community Dwelling Prefrail Older Subjects.

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Neuroscience
• Public Health

Background:

• Frailty is a known risk factor for cognitive decline and dementia.
• Research on the association between prefrailty and cognitive dysfunction is limited.
• This study focuses on the relationship between prefrailty and cognitive performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between prefrailty and cognitive function in community-dwelling older adults with cognitive complaints.
• To identify specific cognitive domains affected by prefrailty.
• To explore which frailty criteria are most strongly associated with cognitive decline.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study design using data from a randomized control trial registration.
• Participants: 183 prefrail and 264 robust community-dwelling older adults with cognitive complaints.
• Assessments included neuropsychological tests and physical assessments; prefrailty defined by Fried criteria. Multiple regression and logistic analyses were performed.

Main Results:

• Pre-frail subjects were older, less educated, more depressive, and had higher rates of diabetes mellitus compared to robust subjects.
• Pre-frailty was associated with lower performance across multiple cognitive domains.
• After adjusting for covariates, prefrailty remained significantly associated with declines in delayed memory and processing speed.

Conclusions:

• Pre-frailty is associated with impaired memory and processing speed performance in older adults.
• Slow gait speed and low physical activity were identified as specific frailty components linked to slower processing speed.
• Findings highlight the importance of addressing prefrailty to potentially prevent cognitive decline.