Potentially inappropriate medication use in older adults with mild cognitive impairment.

BACKGROUND: Patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) may be especially vulnerable to the side effects of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs), especially those that impair cognition. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study to determine the prevalence of PIM use among 689 patients with MCI. We used the 2003 Beers Criteria for cognitive impairment to identify PIMs. We then determined if certain patients were more likely to use PIMs. RESULTS: There were 143 (20.8%) patients with MCI taking a PIM: 108 (15.7%) patients were taking one PIM and 35 (5.1%) patients were taking two or more PIMs. The most common PIMs were anticholinergics (35.7%) and benzodiazepines (31.5%). Patients were more likely to be taking PIMs if they were women and were taking a greater number of medications and less likely if they had a history of myocardial infarction. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with MCI are frequently taking PIMs that may negatively affect cognition. Future research is needed to assess whether cognitive impairment symptoms are improved if PIM use is reduced.

Factors associated with hepatitis A vaccination receipt in one-year-olds in the state of Michigan.

The objectives of this study were to determine factors associated with hepatitis A vaccination and to assess overall hepatitis A vaccination coverage levels among one-year-olds in Michigan. The study population was the first hepatitis A vaccination-eligible birth cohort (n = 134 226) enrolled in the Michigan Care Improvement Registry (MCIR) after 2006 recommendations were made to routinely vaccinate all one-year-olds. All children whose first birthday occurred on or between May 1, 2006 and April 31, 2007 were included in the study population. Racial/ethnic minorities had increased odds of receiving the hepatitis A vaccination in Michigan, and Medicaid and WIC status modified this relationship. Fully understanding these relationships will be useful in targeting vaccination outreach and education programs.

The metabolic syndrome and development of cognitive impairment among older women.

BACKGROUND: Several studies support a role for cardiovascular risk factors in cognitive aging. The metabolic syndrome, a constellation of cardiovascular risk factors, is common in elderly people. A growing but conflicting body of literature suggests that the metabolic syndrome may be associated with cognitive impairment. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between the metabolic syndrome and its components and incident cognitive impairment in older women. DESIGN: We prospectively determined if the metabolic syndrome and its components were associated with a 4-year risk of developing cognitive impairment (dementia, mild cognitive impairment, or low global cognitive test score). SETTING: The study was conducted at 180 clinical centers in 25 countries. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 4895 older women (mean age, 66.2 years) with osteoporosis who were part of an ancillary study to determine clinically relevant cognitive impairment were included in this study. These women were free of baseline cognitive impairment and had metabolic syndrome component measures. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Clinically significant cognitive impairment was defined to include women with clinically adjudicated dementia or MCI and women who had a Short Blessed test score greater than 6 (consistent with impairment), but whose cases were not clinically adjudicated. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between presence of the metabolic syndrome and development of clinically significant cognitive impairment. RESULTS: A total of 497 women (10.2%) had the metabolic syndrome and, of these, 36 (7.2%) developed cognitive impairment compared with 181 (of 4398 or 4.1%) without the syndrome (age-adjusted odds ratio, 1.66; 95% confidence interval, 1.14-2.41). The mean (SD) number of metabolic syndrome components for all women was 1.0 (1.1); 518 women (10.6%) were obese, 895 (18.3%) had hypertriglyceridemia, 1200 (24.5%) had low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, 1944 (39.7%) had high blood pressure, and 381 (7.8%) had high fasting blood glucose levels. There was a 23.0% age-adjusted increase in the risk of developing cognitive impairment (odds ratio, 1.23; 95% confidence interval, 1.09-1.39) per unit increase in the number of components. Further multivariable adjustment somewhat reduced the effect. CONCLUSION: We found an association between the metabolic syndrome and the number of components and risk of developing cognitive impairment in older women. Additional studies are needed to determine if screening and close management of these at-risk elderly women would diminish the incidence of cognitive impairment.