Predicting risk of dementia in older adults. The late-life dementia risk index

In an interesting study by D. E. Barnes et al developed a late-life dementia risk index that can accurately stratify older adults into those with a low, moderate, or high risk of developing dementia within 6 years. The authors studied 3,375 participants without evidence of dementia at baseline. They used logistic regression to identify those factors most predictive of developing incident dementia within 6 years and developed a point system based on the logistic regression coefficients.

These subjects had a mean age of 76 years at baseline; 59% were women and 15% were African American. Fourteen percent (n = 480) developed dementia within 6 years.

The final late-life dementia risk index included older age (1–2 points), poor cognitive test performance (2–4 points), body mass index <18.5 style="font-weight: bold;">Conclusions of the authors were that:
The late-life dementia risk index accurately stratified older adults into those with low, moderate, and high risk of developing dementia.
This tool could be used in clinical or research settings to target prevention and intervention strategies toward high-risk individuals.

Neurology 2009, doi:10.1212/WNL.0b013e3181a81636