The Open Challenges of Cognitive Frailty: Risk Factors, Neuropsychological Profiles and Psychometric Assessment for Healthy Aging

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The Open Challenges of Cognitive Frailty: Risk Factors, Neuropsychological Profiles and Psychometric Assessment for Healthy Aging is written by Simone Varrasi and published by Frontiers Media SA. It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 2832568017 (ISBN 10) and 9782832568019 (ISBN 13).

Frailty is a multidimensional geriatric syndrome characterized by increased vulnerability to stressors. When physical frailty is associated with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), but not dementia, the definition of “cognitive frailty” is preferred. The use of the term “cognitive frailty” is based on a long series of research on the association between multimorbidity and MCI, allowing for a single definition to encompass the coexistence of physical and cognitive impairment. This gives useful insights on the holistic processes of aging. Several aspects of cognitive frailty remain unexplored, particularly in comparison to physical frailty, with no consensus on its prevention, functioning, and measurement. The lack of agreement hinders the development of effective support strategies. For instance, a variety of studies investigated the modifiable health and psychosocial risk factors leading to the transition to cognitive frailty: nutrition, sleep, depression, social contacts, sensory impairments, risky habits, and so on. Results are still mixed. Even the neuropsychological functioning has not been thoroughly described, and the definition of cognitive profiles of frailty has been left to screening tests only. The need for more specific distinctive cognitive markers is closely related to the necessity for dedicated diagnostic tools. However, these tools are not available due to the lack of a consensus on the multidimensional concept of frailty itself, which encompasses sociodemographic, physical, cognitive, psychological, nutritional, social, aging and disease domains. Each of them should be considered in effective, community-dwelling-based, psychometric tools. The ambitious goal for up-to-date research, therefore, is to address all these gaps for healthy aging.