Association Between the Color Kanji Pick-Out Test App Performance and Cognitive Frailty as a Potential Early...

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Cognitive Science
• Neurology

Background:

• Cognitive frailty, a combination of physical frailty and cognitive impairment, is a reversible state increasing dementia risk.
• Early identification of cognitive frailty is crucial for timely intervention and prevention strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between Color Kanji Pick-out Test (CKPT) app performance and cognitive frailty in community-dwelling older women.
• To determine if CKPT app performance predicts cognitive frailty independently of Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 102 community-dwelling older women with Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores ≥ 27.
• Cognitive frailty defined using Kihon Checklist and Japanese Cardiovascular Health Study (J-CHS) criteria.
• Firth's penalized logistic regression analyzed associations between CKPT app, MMSE, and cognitive frailty.

Main Results:

• 13.7% of participants met the criteria for cognitive frailty.
• Higher scores on both the CKPT app and MMSE were significantly associated with lower odds of cognitive frailty.
• In multivariable analysis, both CKPT app and MMSE scores independently predicted cognitive frailty.

Conclusions:

• Color Kanji Pick-out Test (CKPT) app performance is independently associated with cognitive frailty, beyond global cognitive function.
• The CKPT app may detect subtle executive and attentional deficits missed by the MMSE.
• The CKPT app shows potential for practical, objective, early screening and risk stratification of cognitive frailty.