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56/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 56 out of 100. How common it is

Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies

Background Physical frailty and depression may share common pathophysiological pathways associated with dementia and thus interact with each other. However, previous studies have primarily focused on the individual impact of these factors on dementia. Aims To examine the joint effect and interaction of physical frailty and depression on the risk of all‐cause dementia. Methods We conducted prospective analyses among participants aged ≥60 years from three cohorts: the UK Biobank (UKB), the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Physical frailty was assessed using modified versions of the Fried frailty phenotype. Depression was evaluated through mental health questionnaires or combined with hospital admission records. The primary outcome was incident all‐cause dementia, identified via active follow‐up and passive surveillance. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results A total of 220 947 participants (mean age: 64.5 years; 53.3% female) were included. Over 2 832 696 person‐years of follow‐up, 9088 participants (7605 in UKB, 1207 in HRS and 276 in ELSA) developed incident all‐cause dementia. Compared with robust individuals, frail participants faced a 155% increased risk of dementia (pooled HR: 2.55, 95% CI 2.36 to 2.76; I 2 =72.3%). Depression conferred a 1.59‐fold excess risk for dementia (pooled HR: 1.59, 95% CI 1.50 to 1.69; I 2 =56.8%). Adding physical frailty and depression to a traditional dementia risk model significantly improved prediction accuracy (all p‐Δarea under the curve<0.05). Jointly, participants with both physical frailty and depression exhibited the highest dementia risk (pooled HR: 3.23, 95% CI 2.86 to 3.65; I 2 =41.6%) compared with those without physical frailty and depression. Moreover, a significant additive interaction between physical frailty and depression was observed (pooled relative excess risk due to interaction: 0.38, 95% CI 0.13 to 0.63), with 17.1% (95% CI 6.0% to 28.3%) of dementia risk attributed to their interactive effects. Conclusions Individuals with both physical frailty and depression had the highest risk of dementia. More importantly, these two factors interact in an additive manner, further amplifying dementia risk.

Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris

APA 7th

Ding, Y., Duan, M., Shen, J., Xu, L., Ma, Y., He, D., et al. (2025). Associations of physical frailty, depression and their interaction with incident all‐cause dementia among older adults: evidence from three prospective cohorts. General Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1136/gpsych-2025-102172

Vancouver

Ding Y, Duan M, Shen J, Xu L, Ma Y, He D, et al. Associations of physical frailty, depression and their interaction with incident all‐cause dementia among older adults: evidence from three prospective cohorts. General Psychiatry. 2025. doi:10.1136/gpsych-2025-102172. PMID: 41431467.

BibTeX

@article{ding2025-41431467,
  author  = {Ding, Yihong and Duan, Mingrui and Shen, Jie and Xu, Lisha and Ma, Yuehui and He, Di and Zhu, Yimin},
  title   = {{Associations of physical frailty, depression and their interaction with incident all‐cause dementia among older adults: evidence from three prospective cohorts}},
  journal = {General Psychiatry},
  year    = {2025},
  doi     = {10.1136/gpsych-2025-102172},
  pmid    = {41431467},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1136/gpsych-2025-102172}
}

Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record names 7 authors; APA and Vancouver show the first six, BibTeX and the downloads carry all of them. Check the citation against the original before you use it.

Key findings

Background Physical frailty and depression may share common pathophysiological pathways associated with dementia and thus interact with each other.
Results A total of 220 947 participants (mean age: 64.5 years; 53.3% female) were included.
Compared with robust individuals, frail participants faced a 155% increased risk of dementia (pooled HR: 2.55, 95% CI 2.36 to 2.76; I 2 =72.3%).
Adding physical frailty and depression to a traditional dementia risk model significantly improved prediction accuracy (all p‐Δarea under the curve<0.05).
Jointly, participants with both physical frailty and depression exhibited the highest dementia risk (pooled HR: 3.23, 95% CI 2.86 to 3.65; I 2 =41.6%) compared with those without physical frailty and depression.

Why it matters

Across three large cohorts, frail older adults had a higher risk of developing all-cause dementia, and adding physical frailty and depression improved dementia risk prediction. This identifies frailty and depression as risk markers, but the study does not show that treating either one prevents dementia.

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Study details

Study designlongitudinal study
Participants947
Effect size53.3%; HR: 2.55; 72.3%
Evidence strengthModerate

How this study scored 56/100

Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a longitudinal study following the same people over time. Scored zero for randomized / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on senior author's track record, so that was left out: it earned 54 of the 96 points we could judge it on, which is 56 out of 100.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	7 / 10	Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (General Psychiatry)
Journal's citation record	0 / 4	General Psychiatry: journal h-index 50 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29)
Study design	7 / 12	A longitudinal study following the same people over time
Strength of evidence	3 / 5	Rated “moderate” in our summary
Peer-review validation	10 / 10	Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent	4 / 5	2025 — within 3 year(s) of the newest study here
Sample size	2 / 4	947 participants
Effect reported	3 / 3	Effect reported with a statistic (interval, p-value, ratio or similar)
Studied in people	3 / 3	Studied in people (participant count stated)
Randomized / blinded	0 / 2	No randomization or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited	2 / 7	Cited 11 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10)
Citations per year	2 / 5	3.7 citations a year over 3 year(s) since 2025
Impact for its field and year	3 / 6	Cited 7.0× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI)
Cited by studies here	0 / 6	No other study in this library cites it
Still being cited	1 / 4	Cited 11 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex)
Senior author's track record	— / 4	Senior author's record not available — left out of this score
Institution's track record	1 / 3	Zhejiang University: institution h-index 1,040 (OpenAlex)
Multicenter collaboration	2 / 3	OpenAlex lists 5 institution(s) in 1 country
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 41431467)
Free to read	2 / 2	Free to read
Points	54 / 96	Scored on 19 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 54 of the 96 points we could judge it on is 56 out of 100.
Total	56 / 100	—

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