Skip to main content
Advertisement
  • Neurology.org
  • Journals
    • Neurology
    • Clinical Practice
    • Genetics
    • Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflammation
    • Education
  • Online Sections
    • COVID-19
    • Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Anti-racism, & Social Justice (IDEAS)
    • Innovations in Care Delivery
    • Practice Buzz
    • Practice Current
    • Residents & Fellows
    • Without Borders
  • Collections
    • Topics A-Z
    • Disputes & Debates
    • Health Disparities
    • Infographics
    • Patient Pages
    • Null Hypothesis
    • Translations
  • Podcast
  • CME
  • About
    • About the Journals
    • Contact Us
    • Editorial Board
  • Authors
    • Submit a Manuscript
    • Author Center

Advanced Search

Main menu

  • Neurology.org
  • Journals
    • Neurology
    • Clinical Practice
    • Genetics
    • Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflammation
    • Education
  • Online Sections
    • COVID-19
    • Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Anti-racism, & Social Justice (IDEAS)
    • Innovations in Care Delivery
    • Practice Buzz
    • Practice Current
    • Residents & Fellows
    • Without Borders
  • Collections
    • Topics A-Z
    • Disputes & Debates
    • Health Disparities
    • Infographics
    • Patient Pages
    • Null Hypothesis
    • Translations
  • Podcast
  • CME
  • About
    • About the Journals
    • Contact Us
    • Editorial Board
  • Authors
    • Submit a Manuscript
    • Author Center
  • Home
  • Latest Articles
  • Current Issue
  • Past Issues
  • Residents & Fellows

User menu

  • Subscribe
  • My Alerts
  • Log in

Search

  • Advanced search
Neurology
Home
The most widely read and highly cited peer-reviewed neurology journal
  • Subscribe
  • My Alerts
  • Log in
Site Logo
  • Home
  • Latest Articles
  • Current Issue
  • Past Issues
  • Residents & Fellows

Share

December 15, 2020; 95 (24) Article

Apathy and risk of probable incident dementia among community-dwelling older adults

Meredith A. Bock, Amber Bahorik, Willa D. Brenowitz, Kristine Yaffe
First published October 14, 2020, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000010951
Meredith A. Bock
From the Departments of Neurology (M.A.B., K.Y.), Psychiatry (A.B., W.D.B., K.Y.), and Epidemiology (K.Y.), University of California, San Francisco; and San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center (K.Y.), CA.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Amber Bahorik
From the Departments of Neurology (M.A.B., K.Y.), Psychiatry (A.B., W.D.B., K.Y.), and Epidemiology (K.Y.), University of California, San Francisco; and San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center (K.Y.), CA.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Willa D. Brenowitz
From the Departments of Neurology (M.A.B., K.Y.), Psychiatry (A.B., W.D.B., K.Y.), and Epidemiology (K.Y.), University of California, San Francisco; and San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center (K.Y.), CA.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Kristine Yaffe
From the Departments of Neurology (M.A.B., K.Y.), Psychiatry (A.B., W.D.B., K.Y.), and Epidemiology (K.Y.), University of California, San Francisco; and San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center (K.Y.), CA.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Full PDF
Short Form
Citation
Apathy and risk of probable incident dementia among community-dwelling older adults
Meredith A. Bock, Amber Bahorik, Willa D. Brenowitz, Kristine Yaffe
Neurology Dec 2020, 95 (24) e3280-e3287; DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000010951

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Permissions

Make Comment

See Comments

Downloads
178

Share

This article has a correction. Please see:

  • Apathy and Risk of Probable Incident Dementia Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults - May 11, 2021
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Disclosures
Loading

This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the association between baseline apathy and probable incident dementia in a population-based sample of community-dwelling older adults.

Methods We studied 2,018 white and black community-dwelling older adults from the Health, Aging, and Body Composition (Health ABC) study. We measured apathy at year 6 (our study baseline) with the modified Apathy Evaluation Scale and divided participants into tertiles based on low, moderate, or severe apathy symptoms. Incident dementia was ascertained over 9 years by dementia medication use, hospital records, or clinically relevant cognitive decline on global cognition. We examined the association between apathy and probable incident dementia using a Cox proportional hazards model adjusting for demographics, cardiovascular risk factors, APOE4 status, and depressed mood. We also evaluated the association between the apathy group and cognitive change (as measured by the modified Mini-Mental State Examination and Digit Symbol Substitution Test over 5 years) using linear mixed effects models.

Results Over 9 years of follow-up, 381 participants developed probable dementia. Severe apathy was associated with an increased risk of dementia compared to low apathy (25% vs 14%) in unadjusted (hazard ratio [HR] 1.9, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.5–2.5) and adjusted models (HR 1.7, 95% CI 1.3–2.2). Greater apathy was associated with worse cognitive score at baseline, but not rate of change over time.

Conclusion In a diverse cohort of community-dwelling adults, apathy was associated with increased risk of developing probable dementia. This study provides novel evidence for apathy as a prodrome of dementia.

Glossary

3MS=
modified Mini-Mental State Examination;
CES-D=
Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale;
DSST=
Digit Symbol Substitution Test;
Health ABC=
Health, Aging, and Body Composition study;
HR=
hazard ratio;
MCI=
mild cognitive impairment;
NPS=
neuropsychiatric symptoms

Footnotes

  • Go to Neurology.org/N for full disclosures. Funding information and disclosures deemed relevant by the authors, if any, are provided at the end of the article.

  • Received January 29, 2020.
  • Accepted in final form August 12, 2020.
  • © 2020 American Academy of Neurology
View Full Text

AAN Members

We have changed the login procedure to improve access between AAN.com and the Neurology journals. If you are experiencing issues, please log out of AAN.com and clear history and cookies. (For instructions by browser, please click the instruction pages below). After clearing, choose preferred Journal and select login for AAN Members. You will be redirected to a login page where you can log in with your AAN ID number and password. When you are returned to the Journal, your name should appear at the top right of the page.

Google Safari Microsoft Edge Firefox

Click here to login

AAN Non-Member Subscribers

Click here to login

Purchase access

For assistance, please contact:
AAN Members (800) 879-1960 or (612) 928-6000 (International)
Non-AAN Member subscribers (800) 638-3030 or (301) 223-2300 option 3, select 1 (international)

Sign Up
Information on how to subscribe to Neurology and Neurology: Clinical Practice can be found here 

Purchase
Individual access to articles is available through the Add to Cart option on the article page.  Access for 1 day (from the computer you are currently using) is US$ 39.00.  Pay-per-view content is for the use of the payee only, and content may not be further distributed by print or electronic means.  The payee may view, download, and/or print the article for his/her personal, scholarly, research, and educational use.  Distributing copies (electronic or otherwise) of the article is not allowed.

Disputes & Debates: Rapid online correspondence

No comments have been published for this article.
Comment

REQUIREMENTS

If you are uploading a letter concerning an article:
You must have updated your disclosures within six months: http://submit.neurology.org

Your co-authors must send a completed Publishing Agreement Form to Neurology Staff (not necessary for the lead/corresponding author as the form below will suffice) before you upload your comment.

If you are responding to a comment that was written about an article you originally authored:
You (and co-authors) do not need to fill out forms or check disclosures as author forms are still valid
and apply to letter.

Submission specifications:

  • Submissions must be < 200 words with < 5 references. Reference 1 must be the article on which you are commenting.
  • Submissions should not have more than 5 authors. (Exception: original author replies can include all original authors of the article)
  • Submit only on articles published within 6 months of issue date.
  • Do not be redundant. Read any comments already posted on the article prior to submission.
  • Submitted comments are subject to editing and editor review prior to posting.

More guidelines and information on Disputes & Debates

Compose Comment

More information about text formats

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
Author Information
NOTE: The first author must also be the corresponding author of the comment.
First or given name, e.g. 'Peter'.
Your last, or family, name, e.g. 'MacMoody'.
Your email address, e.g. higgs-boson@gmail.com
Your role and/or occupation, e.g. 'Orthopedic Surgeon'.
Your organization or institution (if applicable), e.g. 'Royal Free Hospital'.
Publishing Agreement
NOTE: All authors, besides the first/corresponding author, must complete a separate Publishing Agreement Form and provide via email to the editorial office before comments can be posted.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Vertical Tabs

You May Also be Interested in

Back to top
  • Article
    • Abstract
    • Glossary
    • Methods
    • Results
    • Discussion
    • Study funding
    • Disclosure
    • Acknowledgment
    • Appendix Authors
    • Footnotes
    • References
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Disclosures
Advertisement

Related Articles

  • Apathy and Risk of Probable Incident Dementia Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults

Topics Discussed

  • All Neuropsychology/Behavior
  • All Cognitive Disorders/Dementia
  • Neuropsychological assessment
  • Risk factors in epidemiology
  • Cognitive aging

Alert Me

  • Alert me when eletters are published
Neurology: 98 (19)

Articles

  • Ahead of Print
  • Current Issue
  • Past Issues
  • Popular Articles
  • Translations

About

  • About the Journals
  • Ethics Policies
  • Editors & Editorial Board
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise

Submit

  • Author Center
  • Submit a Manuscript
  • Information for Reviewers
  • AAN Guidelines
  • Permissions

Subscribers

  • Subscribe
  • Activate a Subscription
  • Sign up for eAlerts
  • RSS Feed
Site Logo
  • Visit neurology Template on Facebook
  • Follow neurology Template on Twitter
  • Visit Neurology on YouTube
  • Neurology
  • Neurology: Clinical Practice
  • Neurology: Genetics
  • Neurology: Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflammation
  • Neurology: Education
  • AAN.com
  • AANnews
  • Continuum
  • Brain & Life
  • Neurology Today

Wolters Kluwer Logo

Neurology | Print ISSN:0028-3878
Online ISSN:1526-632X

© 2022 American Academy of Neurology

  • Privacy Policy
  • Feedback
  • Advertise