Apolipoprotein E4 and memory decline in the elderly

The objective of this study was to investigate whether the association between Apolipoprotein E4 (ApoE4) and memory decline is modified by baseline general cognitive impairment and age in a population-based elderly sample. Subjects were participants in the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA). The study sample consisted of 1,243 subjects, 62-85 years old, with a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score between 21-30 and known ApoE phenotypes. Memory performance was measured with a short version of the Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) at baseline and repeated after three years (N = 854). Memory decline was defined as a decrease of at least one standard deviation from the mean change score on immediate recall, delayed recall and retention. ApoE4 was associated with memory decline in cognitively impaired subjects (MMSE 21-26), but not in cognitively normal subjects (MMSE 27-30). In particular cognitively impaired E4 carriers older than 75 years were at high risk of memory decline. Contrary to AD studies, our study suggests that the risk of ApoE4 on memory decline does not decrease with ageing.     

Multifactorial intervention after a fall in older people with cognitive impairment and dementia presenting to the accident and emergency department: randomised controlled trial

ObjectiveTo determine the effectiveness of multifactorial intervention after a fall in older patients with cognitive impairment and dementia attending the accident and emergency department.DesignRandomised controlled trial.Participants274 cognitively impaired older people (aged 65 or over) presenting to the accident and emergency department after a fall: 130 were randomised to assessment and intervention and 144 were randomised to assessment followed by conventional care (control group).SettingTwo accident and emergency departments, Newcastle upon Tyne.ResultsIntention to treat analysis showed no significant difference between intervention and control groups in proportion of patients who fell during 1 year''s follow up (74% (96/130) and 80% (115/144), relative risk ratio 0.92, 95% confidence interval 0.81 to 1.05). No significant differences were found between groups for secondary outcome measures.ConclusionsMultifactorial intervention was not effective in preventing falls in older people with cognitive impairment and dementia presenting to the accident and emergency department after a fall.

What is already known on this topic

Multifactorial intervention prevents falls in cognitively normal older people living in the community and in those who present to the accident and emergency department after a fallFall prevention strategies have not been tested by controlled trials in patients with cognitive impairment and dementia who fall

What this study adds

No benefit was shown from multifactorial assessment and intervention after a fall in patients with cognitive impairment and dementia presenting to the accident and emergency departmentThe intervention was less effective in these patients than in cognitively normal older people     

Central poststroke pain: somatosensory abnormalities and the presence of associated myofascial pain syndrome

Background

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI), defined as a transitional zone between normal cognition and dementia, requires a battery of formal neuropsychological tests administered by a trained rater for its diagnosis. The objective of this study was to develop a screening tool for MCI.

Methods

One hundred ninety seven cognitively normal controls (NC), one hundred sixteen patients with amnestic MCI ?Csingle domain (aMCI-sd), one hundred ninety five patients with amnestic MCI-multiple domain (aMCI-md), and two hundred twenty eight patients with mild Alzheimer??s disease (AD) were evaluated by comprehensive neuropsychological tests and by the Memory and Executive Screening (MES).

Results

Correlation analysis showed that the three indicators of the MES were significantly negatively related with age (P<0.05), yet not related with education (P>0.05). There was no ceiling or floor effect. Test completion averaged seven minutes (421.14±168.31 seconds). The receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analyses performed on the aMCI-sd group yielded 0.89 for the area under the curve (AUC) (95% CI, 0.85?C0.92) for the MES-total score, with sensitivity of 0.795 and specificity of 0.828. There was 81% correct classification rate when the cut-off was set at less than 75. Meanwhile, the aMCI-md group yielded 0.95 for the AUC (95% CI, 0.93?C0.97) for the MES-total score, with sensitivity of 0.87 and specificity of 0.91, and 90% correct classification rate when the cut-off was set at less than 72.

Conclusion

The MES, minimally time-consuming, may be a valid and easily administered cognitive screening tool with high sensitivity and specificity for aMCI, with single or multiple domain impairment.     

Poor Decision Making Is a Consequence of Cognitive Decline among Older Persons without Alzheimer's Disease or Mild Cognitive Impairment

Objective

Decision making is an important determinant of health and well-being across the lifespan but is critical in aging, when many influential decisions are made just as cognitive function declines. Increasing evidence suggests that older adults, even those without dementia, often make poor decisions and are selectively vulnerable to scams. To date, however, the factors associated with poor decision making in old age are unknown. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that poor decision making is a consequence of cognitive decline among older persons without Alzheimer’s disease or mild cognitive impairment.

Methods

Participants were 420 non-demented persons from the Memory and Aging Project, a longitudinal, clinical-pathologic cohort study of aging in the Chicago metropolitan area. All underwent repeated cognitive evaluations and subsequently completed assessments of decision making and susceptibility to scams. Decision making was measured using 12 items from a previously established performance-based measure and a self-report measure of susceptibility to scams.

Results

Cognitive function data were collected over an average of 5.5 years prior to the decision making assessment. Regression analyses were used to examine whether the prior rate of cognitive decline predicted the level of decision making and susceptibility to scams; analyses controlled for age, sex, education, and starting level of cognition. Among 420 persons without dementia, more rapid cognitive decline predicted poorer decision making and increased susceptibility to scams (p’s<0.001). Further, the relations between cognitive decline, decision making and scams persisted in analyses restricted to persons without any cognitive impairment (i.e., no dementia or even mild cognitive impairment).

Conclusions

Poor decision making is a consequence of cognitive decline among older persons without Alzheimer’s disease or mild cognitive impairment, those widely considered “cognitively healthy.” These findings suggest that even very subtle age-related changes in cognition have detrimental effects on judgment.     

Does Cognitive Function Increase over Time in the Healthy Elderly?

Background

In dementia screening, most studies have focused on early cognitive impairment by comparing patients suffering from mild dementia or mild cognitive impairment with normal subjects. Few studies have focused on modifications over time of the cognitive function in the healthy elderly. The objective of the present study was to analyze the cognitive function changes of two different samples, born > 15 years apart.

Method

A first sample of 204 cognitively normal participants was recruited in the memory clinic of Broca hospital between 1991 and 1997. A second sample of 177 cognitively normal participants was recruited in 2008–2009 in the same institution. Both samples were from the same districts of Paris and were assessed with the same neuropsychological test battery. Mean cognitive test scores were compared between 1991 and 2008 samples, between < 80 years old and ≥ 80 years old in 1991 and 2008 samples, and finally between subjects < 80 year old of 1991 sample and subjects ≥ 80 years old of the 2008 sample. Means were compared with T-tests stratified on gender, age-groups and educational level.

Results

Cognitive scores were significantly higher in the 2008 sample. Participants < 80 years old outperformed those ≥ 80 in both samples. However, participants < 80 years old in 1991 sample and subjects ≥ 80 in the 2008 sample, born on average in 1923, performed mostly identically.

Conclusion

This study showed a significant increase of cognitive scores over time. Further, contemporary octogenarians in the later sample performed like septuagenarians in the former sample. These findings might be consistent with the increase in life expectancy and life span in good health. The study highlights the necessity to take into account factors which may contaminate and artificially inflate the age-related differences in favor of younger to the older adults.     

Non-stationarity in the "resting brain's" modular architecture

Task-free functional magnetic resonance imaging (TF-fMRI) has great potential for advancing the understanding and treatment of neurologic illness. However, as with all measures of neural activity, variability is a hallmark of intrinsic connectivity networks (ICNs) identified by TF-fMRI. This variability has hampered efforts to define a robust metric of connectivity suitable as a biomarker for neurologic illness. We hypothesized that some of this variability rather than representing noise in the measurement process, is related to a fundamental feature of connectivity within ICNs, which is their non-stationary nature. To test this hypothesis, we used a large (n = 892) population-based sample of older subjects to construct a well characterized atlas of 68 functional regions, which were categorized based on independent component analysis network of origin, anatomical locations, and a functional meta-analysis. These regions were then used to construct dynamic graphical representations of brain connectivity within a sliding time window for each subject. This allowed us to demonstrate the non-stationary nature of the brain's modular organization and assign each region to a "meta-modular" group. Using this grouping, we then compared dwell time in strong sub-network configurations of the default mode network (DMN) between 28 subjects with Alzheimer's dementia and 56 cognitively normal elderly subjects matched 1:2 on age, gender, and education. We found that differences in connectivity we and others have previously observed in Alzheimer's disease can be explained by differences in dwell time in DMN sub-network configurations, rather than steady state connectivity magnitude. DMN dwell time in specific modular configurations may also underlie the TF-fMRI findings that have been described in mild cognitive impairment and cognitively normal subjects who are at risk for Alzheimer's dementia.     

Programa de entrenamiento de memoria para mayores con alteraciones de memoria: resultados y predictores

IntroductionDeficits in memory performance in later life are frequent and well documented. There are several terms that refer to this phenomenon and the most commonly used is age associated memory impairment (AAMI). Currently, cognitive or memory training programmes are increasingly being used to treat this deficit. The Department of Health of the City of Madrid has developed a multifactorial memory training programme for older people which is carried out in 13 City Health Centres.ObjectivesTo study the effects of this programme in a sample of users aged more than 65 years with memory impairment, to determine the persistence of the results after 6 months, and to investigate predictors of results.Patients and methodThe sample was composed of 1,083 subjects who underwent memory training. The subjects were assessed before and after training and after 6 months. Among other tests, the Mini Examen Cognoscitivo (MEC), the Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test (RBMT), the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), and Memory Failures of Everyday (MFE) were used. The training method used (UMAM method) was developed by the Memory Unit of the City of Madrid.ResultsObjective memory improvement for the entire group was 40% (Cohen’s «d», 0.95) and 77% of the subjects improved. Seventy- five percent of the subjects improved in subjective memory functioning (Cohen’s «d», 0.64). Improvement in mood was also observed. These changes were maintained after 6 months. The predictive variables were age, MEC, GHQ and GDS scores before training, but the percentage of explained variance was very low.ConclusionsThe multifactorial memory training programme, UMAM, improves objective and subjective memory functioning in older people with memory impairment and the benefits persist after 6 months. The predictive value of the variables studied is low.     

Cognitive Dysfunction among HIV Positive and HIV Negative Patients with Psychosis in Uganda

Background

Cognitive impairment is an established phenomenon in HIV infected individuals and patients that have psychosis. However there is need to establish the severity of the impairment if patients are co morbid with both conditions.

Aim

To compare cognitive function among HIV positive individuals and HIV negative individuals with psychosis.

Methods

We recruited patients with psychosis at two national referral hospitals. A standardized demographics questionnaire and psychiatric, physical, and laboratory assessments were conducted. Types of psychosis were diagnosed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Inventory-PLUS while cognitive functioning was determined using the Mini mental state examination (MMSE) and a neuropsychological test battery. Follow-up assessments on cognitive function and severity of psychiatric illness were performed at 3 and 6 months. Pairwise comparison and multivariable logistic regression analysis were used to determine the differences between the HIV positive and HIV negative individuals.

Results

There were 156 HIV positive and 322 HIV negative participants. The mean age was 33 years for the HIV positive group and 29 years for the HIV negative group (p<0.001). The HIV positive individuals were almost three times (OR = 2.62 CI 95% 1.69–4.06) more likely to be cognitively impaired on the MMSE as well as the following cognitive tests:- WHO-UCLA Auditory Verbal Learning Test (OR 1.79, 95% CI 1.09–2.92), Verbal Fluency (OR 3.42, 95% CI 2.24–5.24), Color Trails 1 (OR 2.03, 95% CI 1.29–3.02) and Color Trails 2 (OR 3.50 95% 2.00–6.10) all p = 0.01. There was improvement in cognitive function at follow up; however the impairment remained higher for the HIV positive group (p<0.001).

Conclusion

Cognitive impairment in psychosis was worsened by HIV infection. Care plans to minimize the effect of this impairment should be structured for the management of individuals with HIV and psychosis.     

A Comprehensive Behavioral Test Battery to Assess Learning and Memory in 129S6/Tg2576 Mice

Transgenic Tg2576 mice overexpressing human amyloid precursor protein (hAPP) are a widely used Alzheimer’s disease (AD) mouse model to evaluate treatment effects on amyloid beta (Aβ) pathology and cognition. Tg2576 mice on a B6;SJL background strain carry a recessive rd1 mutation that leads to early retinal degeneration and visual impairment in homozygous carriers. This can impair performance in behavioral tests that rely on visual cues, and thus, affect study results. Therefore, B6;SJL/Tg2576 mice were systematically backcrossed with 129S6/SvEvTac mice resulting in 129S6/Tg2576 mice that lack the rd1 mutation. 129S6/Tg2576 mice do not develop retinal degeneration but still show Aβ accumulation in the brain that is comparable to the original B6;SJL/Tg2576 mouse. However, comprehensive studies on cognitive decline in 129S6/Tg2576 mice are limited. In this study, we used two dementia mouse models on a 129S6 background—scopolamine-treated 129S6/SvEvTac mice (3–5 month-old) and transgenic 129S6/Tg2576 mice (11–13 month-old)–to establish a behavioral test battery for assessing learning and memory. The test battery consisted of five tests to evaluate different aspects of cognitive impairment: a Y-Maze forced alternation task, a novel object recognition test, the Morris water maze, the radial arm water maze, and a Y-maze spontaneous alternation task. We first established this behavioral test battery with the scopolamine-induced dementia model using 129S6/SvEvTac mice and then evaluated 129S6/Tg2576 mice using the same testing protocol. Both models showed distinctive patterns of cognitive impairment. Together, the non-invasive behavioral test battery presented here allows detecting cognitive impairment in scopolamine-treated 129S6/SvEvTac mice and in transgenic 129S6/Tg2576 mice. Due to the modular nature of this test battery, more behavioral tests, e.g. invasive assays to gain additional cognitive information, can easily be added.     

Visuospatial Function in Early Alzheimer’s Disease—The Use of the Visual Object and Space Perception (VOSP) Battery

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most frequent cause of dementia. The clinical symptoms of AD begin with impairment of memory and executive function followed by the gradual involvement of other functions, such as language, semantic knowledge, abstract thinking, attention, and visuospatial abilities. Visuospatial function involves the identification of a stimulus and its location and can be impaired at the beginning of AD. The Visual Object and Space Perception (VOSP) battery evaluates visuospatial function, while minimizing the interference of other cognitive functions.

Objectives

To evaluate visuospatial function in early AD patients using the VOSP and determine cutoff scores to differentiate between cognitively healthy individuals and AD patients.

Methods

Thirty-one patients with mild AD and forty-four healthy elderly were evaluated using a neuropsychological battery and the VOSP.

Results

In the VOSP, the AD patients performed more poorly in all subtests examining object perception and in two subtests examining space perception (Number Location and Cube Analysis). The VOSP showed good accuracy and good correlation with tests measuring visuospatial function.

Conclusion

Visuospatial function is impaired in the early stages of AD. The VOSP battery is a sensitive battery test for visuospatial deficits with minimal interference by other cognitive functions.     

Amyloid-Related Memory Decline in Preclinical Alzheimer’s Disease Is Dependent on APOE ε4 and Is Detectable over 18-Months

High levels of β-amyloid (Aβ) in the brain and carriage of the APOE ε4 allele have each been linked to cognitive impairment in cognitively normal (CN) older adults. However, the relationship between these two biomarkers and cognitive decline is unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between cerebral Aβ level, APOE ε4 carrier status, and cognitive decline over 18 months, in 317 cognitively healthy (CN) older adults (47.6% males, 52.4% females) aged between 60 and 89 years (Mean = 69.9, SD = 6.8). Cognition was assessed using the Cogstate Brief Battery (CBB) and the California Verbal Learning Test, Second Edition (CVLT-II). Planned comparisons indicated that CN older adults with high Aβ who were also APOE ε4 carriers demonstrated the most pronounced decline in learning and working memory. In CN older adults who were APOE ε4 non-carriers, high Aβ was unrelated to cognitive decline in learning and working memory. Carriage of APOE ε4 in CN older adults with low Aβ was associated with a significantly increased rate of decline in learning and unexpectedly, improved cognitive performance on measures of verbal episodic memory over 18 months. These results suggest that Aβ and APOE ε4 interact to increase the rate of cognitive decline in CN older adults and provide further support for the use of Aβ and APOE ε4 as biomarkers of early Alzheimer’s disease.     

Neurobehavioral effects in HIV-positive individuals receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in Gaborone, Botswana

Objective

To explore the prevalence and features of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HANDS) in Botswana, a sub-Saharan country at the center of the HIV epidemic.

Design and Methods

A cross sectional study of 60 HIV-positive individuals, all receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), and 80 demographically matched HIV-seronegative control subjects. We administered a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery and structured psychiatric interview. The lowest 10^th percentile of results achieved by control subjects was used to define the lower limit of normal performance on cognitive measures. Subjects who scored abnormal on three or more measures were classified as cognitively impaired. To determine the clinical significance of any cognitive impairment, we assessed medication adherence, employment, and independence in activities of daily living (ADL).

Results

HIV+ subjects were impaired for all cognitive-motor ability areas compared with matched, uninfected control subjects. Thirty seven percent of HIV+ patients met criteria for cognitive impairment.

Conclusion

These findings indicate that neurocognitive impairment is likely to be an important feature of HIV infection in resource-limited countries; underscoring the need to develop effective treatments for subjects with, or at risk of developing, cognitive impairment.     

Datos normativos del test Barcelona revisado-abreviado para personas mayores cognitivamente activas

IntroductionNeuropsychological assessment is mandatory in order to identify cognitive changes that occur during either normal or pathological aging. However, normative data adapted to the characteristics of the population are needed in order to reduce the probability of false diagnoses of cognitive impairment. The aim of the present work was to compute normative data for cognitively active elderly people attending a University course for the elderly.Materials and methodsAn analysis was performed on the data from 87 participants (70.9% women) with a mean age of 66.73 years who undertook the abbreviated- revised Barcelona test (test de Barcelona revisado-abreviado). Normative data were calculated using linear regressions controlling for age, gender, and years of education. Adjusted normative data were compared with normative data available from the test manual and obtained from the general population.ResultsYears of education and gender showed the highest weights in the regression model. Normative data for cognitively active older adults showed a different number of low scores compared to normative data from the general population. The number of low scores were related to years of education and general cognitive functioning.ConclusionsNormative data obtained from cognitively active older people could help identify more accurately the cognitive functioning of cognitively active older people than do normative data obtained from the general population.     

Association study of a functional catechol-o-methyltransferase polymorphism and cognitive function in patients with dementia

A functional catechol-o-methyltransferase (COMT Val158/108Met) polymorphism, a valine (Val) to methionine (Met) substitution, has been associated with cognitive processing in the normal brain, older age, mild cognitive impairment and in various dementias. COMT is involved in the breakdown of dopamine and other catecholamines, especially in the frontal cortex; hence the carriers of Met allele, with the lower enzymatic activity, are expected to perform better on particular neuro-cognitive tests. The study included 46 patients with dementia and 65 healthy older subjects. The neurological status was assessed, using the Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE), and the batery of different neurological tests. In DNA samples COMT polymorphism was genotyped. Patients with dementia exhibited significant genotype-induced differences in scores for MMSE, Visual Association Test (VAT) duration of numbers test, VAT time of response to numbers test, VAT average response to numbers test and WPLCR/PPLR unanswered. Carriers of Met/Met genotype had significantly lower scores of MMSE, significantly longer time to respond to VAT duration of numbers test, VAT time of response to numbers test and VAT average response to numbers test, and significantly greater number of unanswered questions to WPLCR/PPLR when compared to Met/Val or Val/Val genotypes. Our preliminary data showed significantly impaired performance in several neuro-cognitive tests in carriers of Met/Met genotype in patients with dementia compared to either Met/Val or Val/Val genotype carriers. Although Met/Met genotype with more dopamine available in the frontal cortex should be associated with better neuro-cognitive test results than Met/Val or Val/Val genotype, our data on patients with dementia did not confirm this hypothesis. Further study on larger sample of patients is needed to clarify the role of COMT polymorphism in cognitive functions.     

Does education influence the results of the Amsterdam Dementia-Screening Test (ADS)?

The goal of this study was to explore the correlation between education and the results of five dementia screening tests. In a study of 551 consecutively enrolled psychogeriatric day care attendants individual differences in education explained only very small portions of variance (< or = 0.63%) in four tests (visual recognition memory, orientation, category fluency and alternating sequences) of the Amsterdam Dementia Screening Test, a standard neuropsychological battery. The only exception was graphical copying of two- or three-dimensional geometric designs, where education explained 6.25% of the variance in copying accuracy. The more education participants had (from incomplete or complete primary education, through extended primary education, lower technical and vocational training, and secondary to higher education), the better their copying performance was. There was however one exception, in that participants with secondary education copied designs significantly less accurately than participants with lower technical and vocational training. Differences in copying accuracy of subjects with higher versus lower educational attainment were largest for participants matched for high levels of cognitive function. More severe cognitive impairment attenuated education effects. Higher education did not protect against decline of copying performance as a consequence of increasing cognitive impairment. For each of three educational levels, premorbid copying performance was estimated by constructing a regression equation using an independent measure of cognitive functioning (in terms of visual recognition memory, orientation and category fluency) as the predictor variable. The results support the clinical utility of controlling for educational level when interpreting individual copying performance.     

Effectiveness and costs of phototest in dementia and cognitive impairment screening

Background  

To assess and compare the effectiveness and costs of Phototest, Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), and Memory Impairment Screen (MIS) to screen for dementia (DEM) and cognitive impairment (CI).     

Differentiating the Cognitive Profile of Schizophrenia from That of Alzheimer Disease and Depression in Late Life

Background

To compare the cognitive profile of older patients with schizophrenia to those with other neuropsychiatric disorders assessed in a hospital-based memory clinic.

Methods

Demographic, clinical, and cognitive data of all patients referred to the memory clinic at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health between April 1, 2006 and August 15, 2008 were reviewed. We then identified four groups of older patients with: (1) late-life schizophrenia (LLS) and no dementia or depression (DEP); (2) Alzheimer''s disease (AD); (3) DEP and no dementia or LLS; (4) normal cognition (NC) and no DEP or LLS.

Results

The four groups did not differ in demographic data except that patients with AD were about 12 years older than those with LLS. However, they differed on cognitive tests even after controlling for age. Patients with LLS were impaired on most cognitive tests in comparison with patients with NC but not on recalling newly learned verbal information at a short delay. They experienced equivalent performance on learning new verbal information in comparison with patients with AD, but better performance on all other tests of memory, including the ability to recall newly learned verbal information. Finally, they were more impaired than patients with DEP in overall memory.

Conclusions

Patients with LLS have a different cognitive profile than patients with AD or DEP. Particularly, memory impairment in LLS seems to be more pronounced in learning than recall. These findings suggest that cognitive and psychosocial interventions designed to compensate for learning deficits may be beneficial in LLS.     

轻度认知损伤患者的联系记忆损伤特征

遗忘型轻度认知损伤患者(aMCI)在项目记忆和联系记忆上都有损伤．本文通过临床记忆量表中的项目记忆和联系记忆测验,研究aMCI的联系记忆是否比项目记忆有更显著的损伤．另外,通过分析配对联想学习测验,进一步研究aMCI联系记忆损伤的特点．25名aMCI和28名健康老人参与了两个联系记忆测验(配对联想学习测验和联想回忆测验)和两个项目记忆测验(图像自由回忆和无意义图形再认),aMCI患者在联系记忆测验上表现出了更显著的损伤,即使控制了项目记忆的损伤,aMCI的联系记忆仍然比健康老人显著降低．另外,ROC分析表明联系记忆测验比项目记忆测验对aMCI病人有更高的区分度．对配对联想学习测验的分析表明,相对于健康老人,aMCI患者在记忆有语言联系的词对要比记忆无语义联系的词对更为困难．本研究进一步表明aMCI患者的联系记忆比项目记忆有更大的损伤．相对于健康老人,aMCI患者不仅难以在两个无关项目间创建记忆连接,而且在有效利用项目间本身的语义联系方面存在更大的损伤．联系记忆测验比项目记忆测验对aMCI患者有更高的区分度．在神经心理评估中增加联系记忆测验,能更加有效地识别aMCI患者．     

Asociación entre la longitud de los telómeros y deterioro cognitivo en adultos mayores

IntroductionCognitive impairment is a transition stage between normal aging and dementia, the prevalence of last one increases with age; the damage of the functions and physical integrity, places the older adult in a greater susceptibility to get sick. Telomere length is a hallmark of aging to characterize this phenotype, as well as a biomarker that reflects the underlying state of the cell. In this work, the relative length of telomeres in older adults with cognitive impairment was correlated.Material and methodsObservational-analytical study, in samples of adult patients older than 65 years with and without cognitive impairment, in whom the relative length of telomeres was measured.ResultsNinety samples of older adults were included in the study and in the association analysis according to multivariate logistic models, cognitive impairment showed almost five times more risk for telomere shortening in relation to the presence of the diagnosis of cognitive impairment (Odds ratio 4.88, p = 0.027).ConclusionsWhen correlating the relative length of telomeres in older adults diagnosed with cognitive impairment, this association was confirmed for shorter.