Prevalence of aging-associated cognitive decline in an Italian elderly population: results from cross-sectional phase of Italian PRoject on Epidemiology of Alzheimer's disease (IPREA).
OBJECTIVE
The prevalence of the preclinical phase of dementia varies greatly, according to the diagnostic criteria and assessment procedures applied. The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of cognitive impairment according to the Aging-Associated Cognitive Decline (AACD) diagnostic criteria in an Italian elderly population.


METHODS
In a multicenter community-based prospective study, 4785 Italian subjects aged 65-84 years, randomly selected from the registries of 12 Italian municipalities, were assessed by personal and informant interviews, physical and neurological examinations and an extensive neuropsychological battery.


RESULTS
Of these older subjects, 274 (9.2%) fulfilled all the AACD criteria, whereas 561 (18.8%) fulfilled only 3 of them (AACD-3). When the two groups diagnosed according to AACD criteria (AACD and AACD- 3) were merged, the prevalence was 28.0% (28.3% for men, 27.6% for women). Two other groups of subjects were also identified: a) Subjects with Objective evidence of Cognitive Decline without cognitive complaints (OCD), 508 (17.0%), i.e., subjects with documented neuropsychological deficits, although neither subjects nor informants reported cognitive complaints; and b) Subjects with Cognitive Complaints without objective demonstrable cognitive deficits (CC), 44 (1.5%), i.e., subjects and/or informants reported cognitive complaints without evidence of neuropsychological deficits. Thus, taking into account the additional OCD group, a total of 1343 persons with cognitive impairment without dementia (45.0%) was identified.


CONCLUSIONS
On the basis of our results, we estimate that 45% of our population-based Italian sample aged 65-84 years had some kind of cognitive deficits without dementia.
Scafato
Emanuele
E
National Center on Epidemiology, Surveillance and Health Promotion, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Roma, Italy.
Gandin
Claudia
C
Galluzzo
Lucia
L
Ghirini
Silvia
S
Cacciatore
Francesco
F
Capurso
Antonio
A
Solfrizzi
Vincenzo
V
Panza
Francesco
F
Cocchi
Alberto
A
Consoli
Domenico
D
Enzi
Giuliano
G
Frisoni
Giovanni B
GB
Gandolfo
Carlo
C
Giampaoli
Simona
S
Inzitari
Domenico
D
Maggi
Stefania
S
Crepaldi
Gaetano
G
Mariotti
Sergio
S
Mecocci
Patrizia
P
Motta
Massimo
M
Negrini
Roberto
R
Postacchini
Demetrio
D
Rengo
Franco
F
Farchi
Gino
G
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003704:Dementia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies