Incidence, gender influence, and neuropsychological predictors of all cause dementia in the Faroe Islands—the Faroese Septuagenarian cohort

3Citations
Citations of this article
25Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.
Get full text

Abstract

Background: Using the Faroese Septuagenarian cohort, we aimed to describe the incidence of dementia and assess the validity of neurocognitive tests to predict subsequent dementia diagnosis. Methods: In this population-based cohort, 713 Faroese septuagenarians aged 70–74 years without dementia, underwent clinical and neuropsychological examinations. After 10-years of follow-up, information was collected on all participants referred for cognitive evaluations and diagnosed with dementia. Incidence rates were calculated and presented with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), assuming a Poisson distribution. We then performed discriminant analysis to determine the best set of neuropsychological tests to identify those who would develop dementia. Results: Over the 10-years, 65 participants (9.1%) were diagnosed with dementia, with a 10-year incidence rate of 1063 cases per 100,000 person years (95% CI 825, 1343). Women had a greater incidence than men (incidence rate ratio (IRR) = 1.58; 95% CI 0.93, 2.71). After stepwise selection, gender and six neuropsychological measures were selected to discriminate between those who would and would not develop dementia. Overall, the model was able to correctly identify 82% of those who would not develop dementia (specificity) and 71% of those who would (sensitivity). Conclusions: These results indicate that among a greater number of tests covering a broad range of cognitive abilities, tests reflecting verbal and visual learning and recall, visuospatial function, attention, and encoding into and retrieval from long-term memory may be helpful in identifying patients in the pre-symptomatic phase of dementia. Thus, helping care-givers identify patients at a higher risk of developing dementia and adjusting management of care accordingly.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Paul, K. C., Debes, F., Eliasen, E., Weihe, P., & Petersen, M. S. (2021). Incidence, gender influence, and neuropsychological predictors of all cause dementia in the Faroe Islands—the Faroese Septuagenarian cohort. Aging Clinical and Experimental Research, 33(1), 105–114. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-020-01520-4

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free