How can dementia and disability be prevented in older adults: where are we today and where are we going?

Ageing of the population, together with population growth, has brought along an ample increase in the number of older individuals living with dementia and disabilities. Dementia is the main cause of disability in old age, and promoting healthy brain ageing is considered as a key element in diminishing the burden of age-related disabilities. The World Health Organization recently launched the first risk reduction guidelines for cognitive impairment and dementia. According to recent estimates, approximately 40% of dementia cases worldwide could be attributable to 12 modifiable risk factors: low education; midlife hypertension and obesity; diabetes, smoking, excessive alcohol use, physical inactivity, depression, low social contact, hearing loss, traumatic brain injury and air pollution indicating clear prevention potential. Dementia and physical disability are closely linked with shared risk factors and possible shared underlying mechanisms supporting the possibility of integrated preventive interventions. FINGER trial was the first large randomized controlled trial indicating that multidomain lifestyle-based intervention can prevent cognitive and functional decline amongst at-risk older adults from the general population. Within the World-Wide FINGERS network, the multidomain FINGER concept is now tested and adapted worldwide proving evidence and tools for effective and easily implementable preventive strategies. Close collaboration between researchers, policymakers and healthcare practitioners, involvement of older adults and utilization of new technologies to support self-management is needed to facilitate the implementation of the research findings. In this scoping review, we present the current scientific evidence in the field of dementia and disability prevention and discuss future directions in the field.

Acute kidney injury and mortality risk in older adults with and without COVID-19: Data from gerocovid study

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Research regarding COVID-19 and acute kidney injury (AKI) in older adults is scarce. We evaluated the risk factors and outcomes of AKI in hospitalized older adults with and without COVID-19. METHOD: Observational study of patients admitted to two geriatric clinics in the Stockholm Region of Sweden during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic from March 1st to June 15th 2020. The difference in incidence, risk factors and adverse outcomes for AKI between patients with or without COVID-19 were examined. Odds ratios (ORs) for AKI were obtained from logistic regressions. The hazard ratios (HRs) for the risk of in-hospital death were calculated from Cox proportional hazard regression models. RESULTS: We analyzed 316 older patients hospitalized for COVID-19 and 876 patients for non-COVID-19 diagnoses. The mean age was 8369 years, 57% were women, and mean baseline kidney function as depicted by estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was 62623 ml/min/1.73m2. AKI occurred in 92 (29%) of patients with COVID-19 vs. 159 (18%) without COVID-19. The severity of AKI was significantly worse in patients with COVID-19 compared with non-COVID patients. The odds for developing AKI were higher in patients with COVID-19 (adjusted OR, 1.70;95% CI, 1.04-2.76), low baseline kidney function [4.19 (2.48-7.05), for eGFR 30 ≥ <60 ml/min/1.73m2, and 20.3 (9.95-41.3) for eGFR <30ml/min/1.73m2], and higher C-reactive protein (CRP) level (OR 1.81(1.11-2.95)). The risk of in-hospital death was highest in patients with COVID-19 and AKI [adjusted HR 23.5, 95% CI (8.75-63.0)], followed by COVID-19 without AKI [9.10 (3.52-23.6)] and by patients without COVID-19 and with AKI [6.38 (2.28-17.9)] after adjusting for patient demographics, vital signs, baseline kidney function and medications and using non-COVID patients with no AKI as reference. CONCLUSION: Geriatric patients hospitalized with COVID-19 had a higher incidence of AKI compared with patients hospitalized with other diagnoses. AKI and COVID-19 were associated with in-hospital death. Optimal management of AKI may improve the outcome of COVID-19 in geriatric patients.

Body mass index and Mini Nutritional Assessment-Short Form as predictors of in-geriatric hospital mortality in older adults with COVID-19.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Overweight and obesity have been consistently reported to carry an increased risk for poorer outcomes in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in adults. Existing reports mainly focus on in-hospital and intensive care unit mortality in patient cohorts usually not representative of the population with the highest mortality, i.e. the very old and frail patients. Accordingly, little is known about the risk patterns related to body mass and nutrition in very old patients. Our aim was to assess the relationship between body mass index (BMI), nutritional status and in-geriatric hospital mortality among geriatric patients treated for COVID-19. As a reference, the analyses were performed also in patients treated for other diagnoses than COVID-19. METHODS: We analyzed up to 10,031 geriatric patients with a median age of 83 years of which 1409 (14%) were hospitalized for COVID-19 and 8622 (86%) for other diagnoses in seven geriatric hospitals in the Stockholm region, Sweden during March 2020-January 2021. Data were available in electronic hospital records. The associations between 1) BMI and 2) nutritional status, assessed using the Mini-Nutritional Assessment - Short Form (MNA-SF) scale, and short-term in-geriatric hospital mortality were analyzed using logistic regression. RESULTS: After adjusting for age, sex, comorbidity, polypharmacy, frailty and the wave of the pandemic (first vs. second), underweight defined as BMI<18.5 increased the risk of in-hospital mortality in COVID-19 patients (odds ratio [OR] = 2.30; confidence interval [CI] = 1.17-4.31). Overweight and obesity were not associated with in-hospital mortality. Malnutrition; i.e. MNA-SF 0-7 points, increased the risk of in-hospital mortality in patients treated for COVID-19 (OR = 2.03; CI = 1.16-3.68) and other causes (OR = 6.01; CI = 2.73-15.91). CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that obesity is not a risk factor for very old patients with COVID-19, but emphasize the role of underweight and malnutrition for in-hospital mortality in geriatric patients with COVID-19.