An assessment of neurocognitive speed in relation to frailty

Objectives: to evaluate the relationship between neurocognitive speed (NCS) and frailty; to consider how this relationship is affected by how frailty is operationalised.Design: secondary analysis of the baseline cohort of the Oxford Project To Investigate Memory and Aging (OPTIMA), a longitudinal observational cohort. Subjects: of 388 participants who underwent a comprehensive intake assessment followed by an annual follow-up for at least 3 years, data on all measures were available on 164 people. Measurements: NCS was defined as a combined score of <18 on the pattern comparison test (<11 is abnormal) and letter comparison test (<7 is abnormal). Frailty was defined from a modified Phenotype model, the Edmonton Frailty Scales (EFS) and a frailty index (FI); the latter two were adapted here to exclude cognitive measures. Results: in multivariate logistic (NCS as < or ≤18) and linear regression (NCS as continuous variable), only the FI (OR = 0.87) was significant (P < 0.05). When all frailty measures were included in the multivariate analysis only, FI (OR = 0.88) was significant (P < 0.05). Mini-mental Status Examination remained significantly related to NCS throughout all analysis. Conclusion: NCS slows with increasing frailty as shown with the FI.