Open AccessRelationship between frailty and Alzheimer's disease biomarkers: A scoping review
Author(s) -
Wallace Lindsay,
Theou Olga,
Rockwood Kenneth,
Andrew Melissa K.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia: diagnosis, assessment and disease monitoring
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.497
H-Index - 37
ISSN - 2352-8729
DOI - 10.1016/j.dadm.2018.05.002
Subject(s) - neuropathology , dementia , biomarker , disease , medicine , psycinfo , alzheimer's disease , atrophy , gerontology , frontotemporal dementia , bioinformatics , medline , oncology , biology , biochemistry
Frailty and dementia appear to be closely linked, although mechanisms remain unclear. The objective was to conduct a scoping review of the association between frailty and Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarkers in humans. Methods Three databases, PubMed, PsycINFO, and Embase, were searched for articles using the following search terms: “frail elderly”, “Alzheimer's disease”, “dementia biomarkers” and their synonyms. Inclusion was limited to original research in humans published before 2017, which included a frailty measure and AD biomarker (fluid markers, neuroimaging, and neuropathology). Results Five hundred twenty‐two articles were identified and screened; 10 were included. Most were cross‐sectional (n = 6), measured the frailty phenotype (n = 6), and included people with dementia (n = 7). Biomarkers examined were postmortem AD pathology (n = 3), brain atrophy (n = 5), and in vivo fluid markers (n = 2). Eight studies reported that increased frailty was associated with at least one biomarker abnormality. Discussion Evidence is limited and suffers from design limitations but suggests that frailty and AD biomarkers are closely linked. Longitudinal research examining multiple biomarkers and frailty is warranted.