Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33055276›Full record

ArticleNeurology2020

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

Meredith A Bock, Amber Bahorik, Willa D Brenowitz, Kristine Yaffe

Erratum issuedAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Neurology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 25 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
25citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

25 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
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  4. Apathy, depression, and dementia risk in older adults: A global collaborative study.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025
    Article
  5. Diminished Social and Leisure Engagement in Community Dwelling-Older Adults with Apathy.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025
    Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Review
  10. Article
  11. Prevalence, treatment, and neural correlates of apathy in different forms of dementia: a narrative review.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2024
    Review
  12. Review
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Mediation Analyses of the Role of Apathy on Motoric Cognitive Outcomes.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022
    Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Meredith A BockFrom the Departments of Neurology (M.A.B., K.Y.), Psychiatry (A.B., W.D.B., K.Y.), and Epidemiology (K.Y.), University of California, San Francisco; and San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center (K.Y.), CA. Meredith.Bock@ucsf.edu.
Amber BahorikFrom the Departments of Neurology (M.A.B., K.Y.), Psychiatry (A.B., W.D.B., K.Y.), and Epidemiology (K.Y.), University of California, San Francisco; and San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center (K.Y.), CA.
Willa D BrenowitzFrom the Departments of Neurology (M.A.B., K.Y.), Psychiatry (A.B., W.D.B., K.Y.), and Epidemiology (K.Y.), University of California, San Francisco; and San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center (K.Y.), CA.
Kristine YaffeFrom the Departments of Neurology (M.A.B., K.Y.), Psychiatry (A.B., W.D.B., K.Y.), and Epidemiology (K.Y.), University of California, San Francisco; and San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center (K.Y.), CA.

Funding

VARC CoreP30AG044281 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI Alexander Keliimoeanu Smith · 2013 to 2026
$19.9M
Predictors & Outcomes of Cognitive Trajectories in the Oldest OldK24AG031155 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI YAFFE, KRISTINE · 2007 to 2020
$1.5M
NIA NIH HHS K24 AG031155NIA NIH HHS P30 AG044281
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo evaluate the association between baseline apathy and probable incident dementia in a population-based sample of community-dwelling older adults.

methodsWe 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,

resultsOver 9 years of follow-up, 381 participants developed probable dementia. Severe apathy was associated with an increased risk of dementia compared to low apathy (25% vs 14%) in unadjusted (hazard ratio [HR] 1.9, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.5-2.5) and adjusted models (HR 1.7, 95% CI 1.3-2.2). Greater apathy was associated with worse cognitive score at baseline, but not rate of change over time.

conclusionIn a diverse cohort of community-dwelling adults, apathy was associated with increased risk of developing probable dementia. This study provides novel evidence for apathy as a prodrome of dementia.

Indexed as

ApathyProdromal SymptomsAgedAged, 80 and overCognitive DysfunctionDementiaFemaleHealth SurveysHumansIncidenceIndependent LivingLongitudinal StudiesMaleProportional Hazards ModelsRiskUnited States

Identifiers

PMID33055276
PMCPMC7836653

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.