Interventions for cognitive frailty: developing a Delphi consensus with multidisciplinary and multisectoral experts.

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Neuroscience
• Public Health

Background:

• Cognitive Frailty (CF) is the conjunction of physical frailty and cognitive impairment without dementia.
• CF is potentially reversible, suggesting risk factors and symptoms are targets for intervention.
• Previous interventions lacked multi-sectoral expert input, often focusing solely on academic or clinical perspectives.

Purpose of the Study:

• To achieve international Delphi consensus on targets, content, and modes of interventions for Cognitive Frailty.
• To integrate perspectives from diverse stakeholders, including researchers, people with lived experience, carers, and clinicians.
• To lay the groundwork for evidence-based prevention and intervention strategies for CF.

Main Methods:

• An international Delphi consensus study involving multiple rounds of surveys.
• Scoping review and initial statement gathering followed by quantitative and qualitative analysis of participant responses.
• Inclusion of diverse participants: academic/clinical researchers, people with lived experience, informal carers, and professional care practitioners.

Main Results:

• Consensus was reached on 89 out of 90 statements regarding CF interventions.
• Quantitative analysis yielded 74 statements with at least 70% agreement, supplemented by 24 qualitative statements.
• Minor differences in views were observed between expert groups.

Conclusions:

• The consensus provides a foundational step for defining health promotion and intervention activities for CF.
• Findings represent inter-sectoral expert opinion to inform public health policies for CF prevention and management.
• The study emphasizes stakeholder inclusion for co-creating effective interventions for Cognitive Frailty.