Higher risk of dementia among frail older adults

The risk of developing dementia is around 3.5 times higher in frail older adults than in their non-frail peers, according to a new study from UCL. The study, published today in Scientific Reports , found that frailty affects around 17% of older adults in England. Those who were frail at the start of the study had a greatly increased risk of developing dementia over the next ten years. The findings also revealed that adults on the verge of becoming frail already had almost twice the risk of developing dementia. Frailty is a complex but common condition of older age, which is defined by a combination of problems with mobility, physical disability, poor general health, eyesight, and hearing, as well as chronic problems like cardiovascular diseases and depression. Lead author of the study, Dr Nina Rogers (UCL Epidemiology & Public Health) said, "Dementia is very difficult to manage, so the best thing we can do is to find ways to delay its onset and to slow its progress. We know that there are simple things you can do to reduce the risk of frailty, like doing lots of physical exercise, so those are the things to focus on because the knock on effect might lead to a reduction in the risk of developing dementia.