Abstract
BACKGROUND: Although an efficacious dementia-risk score system, Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging, and Dementia (CAIDE) was derived using midlife risk factors in a population with low educational attainment that does not reflect today's US population, and requires laboratory biomarkers, which are not always available. OBJECTIVE: Develop and validate a modified CAIDE (mCAIDE) system and test its ability to predict presence, severity, and etiology of cognitive impairment in older adults. METHODS: Population consisted of 449 participants in dementia research (N = 230; community sample; 67.9±10.0 years old, 29.6%male, 13.7±4.1 years education) or receiving dementia clinical services (N = 219; clinical sample; 74.3±9.8 years old, 50.2%male, 15.5±2.6 years education). The mCAIDE, which includes self-reported and performance-based rather than blood-derived measures, was developed in the community sample and tested in the independent clinical sample. Validity against Framingham, Hachinski, and CAIDE risk scores was assessed. RESULTS: Higher mCAIDE quartiles were associated with lower performance on global and domain-specific cognitive tests. Each one-point increase in mCAIDE increased the odds of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) by up to 65%, those of AD by 69%, and those for non-AD dementia by > 85%, with highest scores in cases with vascular etiologies. Being in the highest mCAIDE risk group improved ability to discriminate dementia from MCI and controls and MCI from controls, with a cut-off of ≥7 points offering the highest sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values. CONCLUSION: mCAIDE is a robust indicator of cognitive impairment in community-dwelling seniors, which can discriminate well between dementia severity including MCI versus controls. The mCAIDE may be a valuable tool for case ascertainment in research studies, helping flag primary care patients for cognitive testing, and identify those in need of lifestyle interventions for symptomatic control.