Frailty and Quality of Life for People With Alzheimer's Dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment

摘要

Background: Our aim was to investigate the relationship between frailty and health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) in cognitively impaired elderly individuals. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study of a convenience sample of 115 patients with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's dementia or mild cognitive impairment. Frailty was measured using the biological syndrome model and HR-QOL was measured using the DEMQOL-Proxy. Regression models were constructed to establish the factors associated with HR-QOL Results: Frailty and neuropsychiatric symptoms were associated with HR-QOL, with Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores >2I (P = .037, P < .001, and R~2 = .362). Functional limitation was associated with HR-QOL, with MMSE scores <20 (P = .017 and R~2 = .377). Conclusion: Frailty and neuropsychiatric symptoms were the determinants of HR-QOL in the earlier stages of cognitive impairment. Functional limitation predicted HR-QOL in the later stages of cognitive impairment. Frailty may represent a novel modifiable target in early dementia to improve HR-QOL for patients.