TY - JOUR
T1 - Dementia-free survival among centenarians
T2 - An evidence-based review
AU - Calvert, James F.
AU - Hollander-Rodriguez, Joyce
AU - Kaye, Jeffrey
AU - Leahy, Marjorie
N1 - Funding Information:
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Support for this work was provided by National Institutes of Health grants RO1 AGO16219 and KO2 AA00195 (TEJ), AG012423 (Christopher D. Link), and by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Research Training Grant T32 HD007289 (OA).
PY - 2006/9
Y1 - 2006/9
N2 - Background. The 2000 U.S. census identified 50,454 Americans older than 100 years (18 per 100,000). Increased longevity is only of benefit if accompanied by the maintenance of physical, social, and cognitive function into advanced age. The goal of this review was to identify research describing centenarians to find the prevalence of dementia-free survival. Methods. We reviewed 650 publications to find studies that described the prevalence of dementia in centenarians, were community-based, had data that were specific to persons older than 100 years, and were published in peer-reviewed journals. For each study, we identified the prevalence of dementia, the completeness of the sample, the number of study participants, the method used to diagnose dementia, and the duration of the study. Results. We identified 20 research groups from 14 countries with publications meeting our search criteria. The studies showed substantial variation in methods of assessing cognitive status, assuring a complete cohort, and sample size. Few studies reported longitudinal data or attempted diagnosis of the cause of dementia. The prevalence of dementia-free survival past 100 years of age varied between 0 and 50 percent. Conclusions. The methodology used in studies regarding dementia prevalence among centenarians is sufficiently varied that combination of existing studies into a meta-analysis is not possible. Suggestions for assuring quality in future centenarian research are presented.
AB - Background. The 2000 U.S. census identified 50,454 Americans older than 100 years (18 per 100,000). Increased longevity is only of benefit if accompanied by the maintenance of physical, social, and cognitive function into advanced age. The goal of this review was to identify research describing centenarians to find the prevalence of dementia-free survival. Methods. We reviewed 650 publications to find studies that described the prevalence of dementia in centenarians, were community-based, had data that were specific to persons older than 100 years, and were published in peer-reviewed journals. For each study, we identified the prevalence of dementia, the completeness of the sample, the number of study participants, the method used to diagnose dementia, and the duration of the study. Results. We identified 20 research groups from 14 countries with publications meeting our search criteria. The studies showed substantial variation in methods of assessing cognitive status, assuring a complete cohort, and sample size. Few studies reported longitudinal data or attempted diagnosis of the cause of dementia. The prevalence of dementia-free survival past 100 years of age varied between 0 and 50 percent. Conclusions. The methodology used in studies regarding dementia prevalence among centenarians is sufficiently varied that combination of existing studies into a meta-analysis is not possible. Suggestions for assuring quality in future centenarian research are presented.
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U2 - 10.1093/gerona/61.9.951
DO - 10.1093/gerona/61.9.951
M3 - Review article
C2 - 16960026
AN - SCOPUS:33748798495
SN - 1079-5006
VL - 61
SP - 951
EP - 956
JO - Journals of Gerontology - Series A Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences
JF - Journals of Gerontology - Series A Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences
IS - 9
ER -