Alzheimer Disease
Conditions
Brief summary
The primary aim of this study is to investigate the association between frailty as defined by the Fried Frailty Phenotype and risk of functional decline in patients with Alzheimer's dementia. The hypothesis is that frailty is associated with greater functional decline in community-dwelling older people with Alzheimer's dementia compared to those without frailty. Secondary aims include investigation of long-term risk of institutionalization (through administrative follow-up) and trajectories of assessment components in future assessment. The study is designed as a prospective cohort study. Participants in the study will undergo an assessment battery at baseline, 1 years of follow-up, and administrative follow-up for 5 years. Participants will be recruited from patients of the Unit of Dementia at Aalborg University Hospital within 3 months of dementia diagnosis. The time frame of 3 months after diagnosis was chosen to ensure that cognitive assessment in the Unit of Dementia was reflective of patient's cognitive level and thereby ability to consent at inclusion. Patients will be eligible for inclusion if they are 65 years or older, have a diagnosis of mild or moderate Alzheimer's or mixed (Alzheimer's and vascular) dementia, live at home, and are able to walk 5 meters independently of other people (walking aids will be allowed). The severity of dementia will be defined according to score on the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) as it has done in other studies. According to this definition a MMSE score between 20-30 indicates mild Alzheimer's dementia and a MMSE score from 15-19 indicates moderate dementia. People with moderately severe and severe Alzheimer's dementia defined as MMSE score below 15 will not be eligible to participate.
Interventions
OTHERFrailty
defined as weigh loss (\>4.5 kg in one year), exhaustion, slow gait speed (below 20th percentile for sex and height), weakness (handgrip strength below 20th percentile for sex and BMI), and low physical activity (by the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly). The presence of three or more out of five criteria is defined as frailty while one to two criteria is prefrailty
Sponsors
Aalborg University Hospital
Study design
Observational model
COHORT
Time perspective
PROSPECTIVE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
65 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Diagnosis of Alzheimers Dementia * MMSE \> 14 * Age \>= 65 * Not living in institution * Able to walk 5m without assistence (walking aids accepted)
Exclusion criteria
* No available caregiver/proxy * Unable to give informed consent as judged by caregiver/proxy or researcher * Time from diagnosis \> 3 months
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Caregiver IADL Change | 1 year | Defined by caregiver reported ADL performance on the Functional Activities Questinnaire |
| Patient IADL Change | 1 year | Defined by patient reported ADL performance on the Functional Activities Questinnaire |
| Caregiver BADL Change | 1 year | Defined by caregiver reported ADL performance on Barthel ADL scale |
| Patient BADL Change | 1 year | Defined by patient reported ADL performance on Barthel ADL scale |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Nursing home admission | 5 years | Admission to nursing home (time to event) |
| Mortality | 5 years | Death (time to event) |
Countries
Denmark
Outcome results
None listed