Aims: The main aims of the study were the translation and the subsequent validation in Italian of the Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination Revised (ACE-R), and the evaluation of its usefulness in discriminating cognitively normal subjects from patients with mild dementia in an elderly population. Methods: The ACE-R was translated and adapted into Italian. The Italian ACE-R was administered to a group of 179 elderly subjects (72 cognitively healthy and 107 subjects with mild dementia, mean age 75.4 ± 6.4 years). The group was stratified into two subsamples according to age, i.e. a young-old (<75 years) and an old-old (≧75 years) group, in order to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of the test in detecting dementia in different age strata of elderly subjects. Results: The reliability of the Italian ACE-R was extremely good (α-coefficient = 0.85). Two different cutoffs were identified for young-old (cutoff 79; sensitivity 90% and specificity 80%) and old-old subjects (cutoff 60; sensitivity 82% and specificity 100%). Conclusions: The Italian ACE-R is a valid screening tool to detect dementia, especially in the old-old population, which represents not only the fastest growing age group but also the group at the highest risk of dementia in Western countries.

Background: Hypovitaminosis D is a frequent condition in elderly subjects. Vitamin D adequacy is best determined by measurement of the 25-hydroxyvitamin D-25(OH)D-concentration in the serum. An inverse association exists between 25(OH)D and cardiovascular, infectious, glucose metabolism, cognitive disorders, and all-cause mortality. Whether 25(OH)D is a marker of organ diseases is still under debate. We aimed to investigate whether comorbidities were associated with serum 25(OH)D levels in geriatric inpatients. Methods: This is a retrospective study, including 237 subjects consecutively admitted to an acute care geriatric unit, with available data of 25(OH)D serum concentrations. 25(OH)D serum levels were defined according to the following cutoffs: 50–30 ng/mL (125–75 nmol/L): optimal range; 30–20 ng/mL (75–50 nmol/L): insufficiency; 20–10 ng/mL (5–25 nmol/L): deficiency; and <10 ng/mL (<25 nmol/L): severe deficiency. Comorbidity was assessed using the Cumulative Illness Rating Scale-Geriatric (CIRS-G). Two summary measures were obtained, the Illness Severity Index (CIRS-SI) and the Comorbidity Index (CIRS-CI). Results: 177 (74.68%) women and 60 (25.32%) men with mean age of 85 ± 6 years old were enrolled. The majority of subjects (68.6%) were at risk of malnutrition. Overall, the burden of comorbidity was 1.87 ± 1.33 for CIRS-CI and 1.18 ± 0.40 for CIRS-SI. 25(OH)D serum concentrations were 10.58 ± 7.68 ng/mL, with 98.7% of subjects having vitamin D below 30 ng/mL and 56.6% with severe deficiency. An inverse correlation was found between 25(OH)D and both CIRS-SI (r: −0.312; p < 0.0001) and CIRS-CI (r: −0.306; p < 0.0001). Independent of multiple covariates an inverse association between both CIRS-SI (p < 0.0001) and CIRS-CI (p < 0.0001) and 25(OH)D was confirmed. Both CIRS-SI (r = 0.251, p < 0.0001) and CIRS-CI (r = 0.137, p = 0.016) were positively correlated with the length of hospital stay. An inverse correlation was confirmed between serum 25(OH)D concentrations and CRP (r = −0.142; p = 0.041). CRP, in turn, positively correlated with CIRS-SI (r = 0.209, p = 0.003) and CIRS-CI (r = 0.158, p = 0.023). Both CIRS-SI (r = 0.251, p < 0.0001) and CIRS-CI (r = 0.137, p = 0.016) were positively correlated with the length of hospital stay. Conclusions: In hospitalized very old subjects, a higher comorbidity burden is associated with lower 25(OH)D serum levels. Hypovitaminosis D was correlated with higher inflammatory status, which, together with the comorbidities burden, negatively influenced the length of hospital stay.

In light of the recent advances regarding the role of vascularity in Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathophysiology, the relationship between plasma levels and activities of the major antioxidant molecules and the carotid intima-media thickness (C-IMT) of older persons with no or very mild cognitive impairment was evaluated. The underlying hypothesis is that the IMT may be an indirect index of vascular damage in persons with low levels of plasma antioxidants. Plasma levels of vitamins A, C, E, of uric acid as well as activities of the plasma antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were measured. Plasma levels of vitamins C and E significantly decreased among participants from the first to the fourth IMT quartile, with a linear slope only for vitamin C. Compared to participants in the lowest vitamin C quartile, the probability to have IMT >1.2 mm significantly decreased among persons from the second to the fourth quartile independent of confounders. In conclusion, only vitamin C plasma levels appear to be selectively associated with the risk of increasing C-IMT. An adequate vitamin C status might be particularly important for protection against AD and other clinical manifestations of vascular and cognitive ageing.

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