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

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, APOE-4 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 Su...