The Association Between Brain Volume, Cortical Brain Infarcts, and Physical Frailty

Overview

Journal Neurobiol Aging

Publisher Elsevier

Specialties Geriatrics
Neurology
Physiology

Date 2018 Jul 27

PMID 30048892

Citations 30

Authors

Ilse M J Kant

Jeroen de Bresser

Simone J T van Montfort

Ellen Aarts

Jorrit-Jan Verlaan

Norman Zacharias

Georg Winterer

Claudia Spies

Arjen J C Slooter

Jeroen Hendrikse

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Physical frailty is an age-associated syndrome of decreased reserve leading to vulnerability to physiological stressors and associated with negative outcomes. The underlying structural brain abnormalities of physical frailty are unclear. We investigated the association between brain volume, cortical brain infarcts, and physical frailty. In this multicenter study, 214 nondemented participants were classified as frail (n = 32), prefrail (n = 107), or nonfrail (n = 75) based on the Fried frailty phenotype. The associations between frailty and brain volumes and cortical brain infarcts were investigated by linear or logistic regression analyses. Participants in the frail group showed a lower total brain volume (-19.67 mL [95% confidence interval -37.84 to -1.50]) and lower gray matter volume (-12.19 mL [95% confidence interval -23.84 to -0.54]) compared to nonfrail participants. Frailty was associated with cortical brain infarcts [frail 16% [n = 5], prefrail 11% [n = 12], and nonfrail 3% [n = 2]). Reduced total brain volume and gray matter volume and increased cortical brain infarcts seem therefore to be part of the structural substrate of the physical frailty phenotype.

Citing Articles

Shared genetic architecture and causal relationship between frailty and schizophrenia.

Deng M, Wang K, Liu F, Zhou X, Nie J, Zhao Z Schizophrenia (Heidelb). 2025; 11(1):24.

PMID: 39984493 PMC: 11845589. DOI: 10.1038/s41537-024-00550-5.

Neuroimaging Findings in Nondemented Frail Individuals: A Systematic Review.

Harandi H, Mohammadi S, Jahanshahi A, Dolatshahi M, Alikarami S, Zafari R J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle. 2025; 16(1):e13719.

PMID: 39934085 PMC: 11813630. DOI: 10.1002/jcsm.13719.

Frailty Trajectories Preceding Dementia in the US and UK.

Ward D, Flint J, Littlejohns T, Foote I, Canevelli M, Wallace L JAMA Neurol. 2024; 82(1):61-71.

PMID: 39527039 PMC: 11555573. DOI: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2024.3774.

Association between surgical admissions, cognition, and neurodegeneration in older people: a population-based study from the UK Biobank.

Taylor J, Robledo K, Medel V, Heller G, Payne T, Wehrman J Lancet Healthy Longev. 2024; 5(9):100623.

PMID: 39245058 PMC: 11460833. DOI: 10.1016/j.lanhl.2024.07.006.

Association between physical frailty and cortical structure in middle-aged and elderly people: a Mendelian randomization study.

Zhang X, Wang Z, Zou J, Zhang L, Ning J, Jiang B Front Aging Neurosci. 2024; 16:1395553.

PMID: 38841102 PMC: 11150765. DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2024.1395553.

References

Avila-Funes J, Carcaillon L, Helmer C, Carriere I, Ritchie K, Rouaud O . Is frailty a prodromal stage of vascular dementia? Results from the Three-City Study. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2012; 60(9):1708-12. DOI: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2012.04142.x. View

Siejka T, Srikanth V, Hubbard R, Moran C, Beare R, Wood A . Frailty and Cerebral Small Vessel Disease: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the Tasmanian Study of Cognition and Gait (TASCOG). J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2017; 73(2):255-260. DOI: 10.1093/gerona/glx145. View

Heinen R, Bouvy W, Mendrik A, Viergever M, Biessels G, de Bresser J . Robustness of Automated Methods for Brain Volume Measurements across Different MRI Field Strengths. PLoS One. 2016; 11(10):e0165719. PMC: 5087903. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0165719. View

Fried L, Tangen C, Walston J, Newman A, Hirsch C, Gottdiener J . Frailty in older adults: evidence for a phenotype. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2001; 56(3):M146-56. DOI: 10.1093/gerona/56.3.m146. View

Rolfson D, Majumdar S, Tsuyuki R, Tahir A, Rockwood K . Validity and reliability of the Edmonton Frail Scale. Age Ageing. 2006; 35(5):526-9. PMC: 5955195. DOI: 10.1093/ageing/afl041. View

Solfrizzi V, Scafato E, Frisardi V, Seripa D, Logroscino G, Maggi S . Frailty syndrome and the risk of vascular dementia: the Italian Longitudinal Study on Aging. Alzheimers Dement. 2012; 9(2):113-22. DOI: 10.1016/j.jalz.2011.09.223. View

Wardlaw J, Smith E, Biessels G, Cordonnier C, Fazekas F, Frayne R . Neuroimaging standards for research into small vessel disease and its contribution to ageing and neurodegeneration. Lancet Neurol. 2013; 12(8):822-38. PMC: 3714437. DOI: 10.1016/S1474-4422(13)70124-8. View

Clegg A, Young J, Iliffe S, Rikkert M, Rockwood K . Frailty in elderly people. Lancet. 2013; 381(9868):752-62. PMC: 4098658. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)62167-9. View

Folstein M, Folstein S, McHugh P . "Mini-mental state". A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. J Psychiatr Res. 1975; 12(3):189-98. DOI: 10.1016/0022-3956(75)90026-6. View

10.

Chung C, Chou K, Chen W, Liu L, Lee W, Chen L . Cerebral microbleeds are associated with physical frailty: a community-based study. Neurobiol Aging. 2016; 44:143-150. DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2016.04.025. View

11.

Verlinden V, van der Geest J, Hofman A, Niessen W, van der Lugt A, Vernooij M . Brain MRI-markers Associate Differentially with Cognitive Versus Functional Decline Leading to Dementia. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2017; 65(6):1258-1266. DOI: 10.1111/jgs.14775. View

12.

Newman A, Gottdiener J, McBurnie M, Hirsch C, Kop W, Tracy R . Associations of subclinical cardiovascular disease with frailty. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2001; 56(3):M158-66. DOI: 10.1093/gerona/56.3.m158. View

13.

Brown 4th C, Max L, Laflam A, Kirk L, Gross A, Arora R . The Association Between Preoperative Frailty and Postoperative Delirium After Cardiac Surgery. Anesth Analg. 2016; 123(2):430-5. PMC: 5406128. DOI: 10.1213/ANE.0000000000001271. View

14.

Avila-Funes J, Pelletier A, Meillon C, Catheline G, Periot O, Trevin O-Frenk I . Vascular Cerebral Damage in Frail Older Adults: The AMImage Study. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2017; 72(7):971-977. DOI: 10.1093/gerona/glw347. View

15.

Savva G, Donoghue O, Horgan F, ORegan C, Cronin H, Kenny R . Using timed up-and-go to identify frail members of the older population. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2012; 68(4):441-6. DOI: 10.1093/gerona/gls190. View

16.

Buta B, Walston J, Godino J, Park M, Kalyani R, Xue Q . Frailty assessment instruments: Systematic characterization of the uses and contexts of highly-cited instruments. Ageing Res Rev. 2015; 26:53-61. PMC: 4806795. DOI: 10.1016/j.arr.2015.12.003. View

17.

DRIPPS R, Lamont A, ECKENHOFF J . The role of anesthesia in surgical mortality. JAMA. 1961; 178:261-6. DOI: 10.1001/jama.1961.03040420001001. View

18.

Mendrik A, Vincken K, Kuijf H, Breeuwer M, Bouvy W, de Bresser J . MRBrainS Challenge: Online Evaluation Framework for Brain Image Segmentation in 3T MRI Scans. Comput Intell Neurosci. 2016; 2015:813696. PMC: 4680055. DOI: 10.1155/2015/813696. View

19.

Buchman A, Yu L, Wilson R, Boyle P, Schneider J, Bennett D . Brain pathology contributes to simultaneous change in physical frailty and cognition in old age. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2014; 69(12):1536-44. PMC: 4296120. DOI: 10.1093/gerona/glu117. View

20.

Chen W, Chou K, Liu L, Lee P, Lee W, Chen L . Reduced cerebellar gray matter is a neural signature of physical frailty. Hum Brain Mapp. 2015; 36(9):3666-76. PMC: 6869536. DOI: 10.1002/hbm.22870. View