Although frailty and cognitive impairment are critical risk factors for disability and mortality in the general population of older inhabitants, the prevalence and incidence of these factors in individuals treated in the specialty outpatient clinics are unknown. We recently established a frailty clinic for comprehensive assessments of conditions such as frailty, sarcopenia, and cognition, and planned 3-year prospective observational study to identify the risk factors for progression of these aging-related statuses. To date, we recruited 323 patients who revealed symptoms suggestive of frailty mainly from a specialty outpatient clinic of cardiology and diabetes. Frailty status was diagnosed by the modified Cardiovascular Health Study (mCHS) criteria and some other scales. Cognitive function was assessed by Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Japanese version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA-J), and some other modalities. Sarcopenia was defined by the criteria of the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS). In this report, we outlined our frailty clinic and analyzed the background characteristics of the subjects. Most patients reported hypertension (78%), diabetes mellitus (57%), or dyslipidemia (63%), and cardiovascular disease and probable heart failure also had a higher prevalence. The prevalence of frailty diagnosed according to the mCHS criteria, cognitive impairment defined by MMSE (≤27) and MoCA-J (≤25), and of AWGS-defined sarcopenia were 24, 41, and 84, and 31%, respectively. The prevalence of frailty and cognitive impairment increased with aging, whereas the increase in sarcopenia prevalence plateaued after the age of 80 years. No significant differences were observed in the prevalence of frailty, cognitive impairment, and sarcopenia between the groups with and without diabetes mellitus, hypertension, or dyslipidemia with a few exceptions, presumably due to the high-risk subjects who had multiple cardiovascular comorbidities. A majority of the frail and sarcopenic patients revealed cognitive impairment, whereas the frequency of suspected dementia among these patients were both approximately 20%. We found a high prevalence of frailty, cognitive impairment, and sarcopenia in patients with cardiometabolic disease in our frailty clinic. Comprehensive assessment of the high-risk patients could be useful to identify the risk factors for progression of frailty and cognitive decline.

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to clarify the influence of social interaction on the effect of a cognitive intervention program using Go.Methods: A single‐blind, randomized controlled trial using a classical board game “Go” was conducted. A total of 72 community‐dwelling older adults, without previous experience playing Go, were randomly assigned to three groups: (1) a face‐to‐face group (FG) in which members attended 12 Go group lessons held once a week; (2) a non‐face‐to‐face group (NFG) in which members individually underwent the same Go lessons as the FG using a tablet computer; or (3) a health education control group (CG). The main outcome variable, working memory, was assessed before and after the interventions using the Visual Memory Span Test (VMST) and the Visual Memory Span Backward (VMSB) task. Go performance and additional cognitive domains were also examined.Results: Analysis of covariance revealed that VMST scores significantly improved after the intervention in both the FG and NFG (both P < .05). Compared with the CG, the effect size of the FG (Cohen's d = 0.89) was greater than that of the NFG (Cohen's d = 0.67). Although VMSB scores significantly improved after the intervention in the FG (P < .05), no significant changes were observed in other groups.Conclusions: This study showed that Go game could improve visual working memory regardless of social interaction. Furthermore, findings suggested that playing board games face‐to‐face with others is more effective for cognitive function than playing alone.

This study investigated the effects of an intervention using the game “GO” on cognitive function in nursing home residents and evaluated the acquisition of GO according to each stage of dementia. Participants were randomly assigned to either the GO intervention group or a control group, and the intervention was performed once weekly for 15 weeks. Cognitive tests were conducted before and after intervention, and 17 participants were included in the final analysis. Analysis of covariance demonstrated that in the intervention group, the digit span total score significantly improved and the digit span backward score was maintained, whereas these scores decreased in the control group. All participants, including those who had moderate dementia, acquired the rules of the game, and participants with mild cognitive impairment and mild dementia could play the game successfully. This study indicates that GO might improve the cognitive function of residents living in nursing homes.

Smartphone applications aimed at enhancing physical, cognitive, and social activities through mobile health (mHealth) technology are of increasing interest. Their feasibility and acceptability, alongside impacts on frailty phenotype scores and step counts among older adults with frailty, remain to be fully validated. This study presents a 13-week preliminary intervention trial assessing an mHealth app’s feasibility in a cohort of 34 eligible older adults, including 5 frail and 29 pre-frail participants. The intervention entailed a 6-week course on app usage, followed by 7 weeks of observation, with four participants withdrawing early. Feasibility was determined by login and active use rates, with a target login rate of 60% or higher. Post-intervention, 100% session attendance and a median login rate of 88.4% were observed. Acceptability was high, with 73% affirming the app’s health benefits. Notably, frailty scores and step counts improved post-intervention, underscoring the app’s potential for supporting older adults with frailty.