Background: Heterogeneous disease trajectories of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia are frequently\nencountered in clinical practice, but there is still insufficient knowledge to understand the reasons and mechanisms\ncausing this heterogeneity. In addition to correlates of the disorder, patient characteristics such as their health\nstatus, social environment, comorbidities and frailty may contribute to variability in trajectories over time. The\ncurrent paper outlines the study design and the study population of and provides an overview of the data\ncollected in the Clinical Course of Cognition and Comorbidity in Mild Cognitive Impairment (4C-MCI cohort, n = 315)\nand Dementia (4C-Dementia cohort, n = 331) Study.\nMethods: The two complementary longitudinal cohorts part of the 4C study began enrolment in March 2010.\nParticipants were prospectively recruited from three collaborating Dutch Alzheimer Centers, with three annual\nfollow-up assessments after baseline. Extensive neuropsychological assessments, and detailed profiling of\ncomorbidities, health and frailty at each follow up were the key features of the 4C study. As such, the 4C study was\ndesigned to study if and how patients� comorbidities and frailty are associated with the course of MCI and\ndementia measured with a comprehensive and multidimensional set of outcomes including cognition, daily\nfunctioning, quality of life, behavioral disturbances, caregiver burden, institutionalization and death and whether the\neffects of medical health and frailty differ between MCI and dementia stages of cognitive disorders. Conclusion: Sampled in a clinical setting, the 4C study complements population-based studies on\nneurodegenerative disorders in terms of the type of assessment (e.g. comorbidity, frailty, and functional status were\nrepeatedly assessed). The 4C study complements available clinical cohorts of MCI and dementia patients, because\nthe exclusion criteria were kept to a minimum, to obtain a sample that is representative for the average patient\nvisiting a memory clinic.
Loading....