Media
Documents:
Videos:
Audio/Podcasts:
Biography
M. Cristina Polidori is MD, Geriatrician and Gerontologist. She is the head of the Ageing Clinical Research Unit at the Dpt. II of Internal Medicine and Center for Molecular Medicine of the University Hospital of Cologne, Germany. Dr. Polidori's fields of expertise are 1) comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA)-based prognosis and geriatric resource evaluation for personalized multidomain interventions in advanced age; 2) nutritional cognitive neuroscience; 3) translational challenges of bridging the gap between Geroscience and Geriatrics for healthy aging and 4) role of geriatric education for medical students and HealthCare professionals to improve the management of older adults. M. C. Polidori is Professor of Geriatrics, Professor of Physiological Chemistry and PI-Associate member of the Cluster of Excellence CECAD of the University of Cologne. She is author of over 130 peer-reviewed publications and co-editor of the first EuGMS textbook of Geriatrics Learning Geriatric Medicine. Dr. Polidori received numerous prestigious awards in the field of aging Research, is Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and President of the German Association for Cognitive Training e.V.
Areas of Expertise (5)
Nutritional Cognitive Neuroscience
Healthy Ageing
Geriatrics and Gerontology
Ageing Medicine
Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment
Accomplishments (5)
Catherine Pasquier Award for Free Radical Research (professional)
2007
Schiffbauer Award for Geriatrics (professional)
2012
Award for Interdisciplinary Research on Ageing (professional)
2017
Umbria in Rosa Award for Research (professional)
2018
Award of the Wilhelm-Woort Foundation for Research on Aging (professional)
2019
Education (3)
Medical Faculty of the University of Perugia, Italy: MD Degree 1993
Harvard Medical School and Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute: Research Fellow, Neurology 1997
University of Perugia, Italy: Master, Philosophy 2005
Affiliations (3)
- Cluster of Excellence CECAD of the University of Cologne : PI-Associate member
- Royal College of Physicians : Honorary Fellow
- German Association for Cognitive Training e.V. : President
Links (3)
Research Grants (8)
Young Investigator Grant
National Council of Research Italy
1993-1995 Italian Centenarians Study
EU Marie-Curie Fellowship
EU Marie-Curie
In the field Quality of life and Management of Living resources
Düsseldorf Research Commission
Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf Research Commission
2004-2006
Robert-Bosch Foundation for Geriatrics
Robert-Bosch Foundation
2008-2012
EU Executive Agency
EU Executive Agency for Health and Consumers
In the frame of Active and Healthy Ageing 2nd-Health Programme, MPI_Age Study 2013-2017
EU JPND NeuroExercise Study
EU JPND NeuroExercise
2015-2018
EuroSAF Study
EuroSAF
2018-2020
Ageing Research
Wilhelm-Woort Foundation
2019-2021
Featured Articles (5)
Using the Multidimensional Prognostic Index (MPI) to improve cost-effectiveness of interventions in multimorbid frail older persons: results and final recommendations from the MPI_AGE European Project
Aging Clinical and Experimental Research
Alfonso J. Cruz-Jentoft, Julia Daragjati, Laura Fratiglioni, Stefania Maggi, Arduino A. Mangoni, Francesco Mattace-Raso, Marc Paccalin, Maria Cristina Polidori, Eva Topinkova, Luigi Ferrucci, Alberto Pilotto & on behalf of the MPI_AGE Investigators
2020-03-16
MPI_AGE is a European Union co-funded research project aimed to use the Multidimensional Prognostic Index (MPI), a validated Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA)-based prognostic tool, to develop predictive rules that guide clinical and management decisions in older people in different European countries. A series of international studies performed in different settings have shown that the MPI is useful to predict mortality and risk of hospitalization in community-dwelling older subjects at population level. Furthermore, studies performed in older people who underwent a CGA before admission to a nursing home or receiving homecare services showed that the MPI successfully identified groups of persons who could benefit, in terms of reduced mortality, of specific therapies such as statins in diabetes mellitus and coronary artery disease, anticoagulants in atrial fibrillation and antidementia drugs in cognitive decline. A prospective trial carried out in nine hospitals in Europe and Australia demonstrated that the MPI was able to predict not only in-hospital and long-term mortality, but also institutionalization, re-hospitalization and receiving homecare services during the one-year follow-up after hospital discharge. The project also explored the association between MPI and mortality in hospitalized older patients in need of complex procedures such as transcatheter aortic valve implantation or enteral tube feeding. Evidence from these studies has prompted the MPI_AGE Investigators to formulate recommendations for healthcare providers, policy makers and the general population which may help to improve the cost-effectiveness of appropriate health care interventions for older patients.
A multidimensional approach to frailty in older people
Ageing Research Reviews
Alberto Pilotto, Carlo Custodero, Stefania Maggi, Maria Cristina Polidori, Nicola Veronese, Luigi Ferrucci
2020-07-01
Frailty is an important factor determining a higher risk of adverse health outcomes in older adults. Although scientific community in the last two decades put a lot of effort for its definition, to date no consensus was reached on its assessment. The mainstream thinking describes frailty as a loss of physical functions or as accumulation of multiple deficits. Recently, a novel conceptual model of frailty has emerged based on the loss of harmonic interaction between multiple domains (also referred as dimensions) including genetic, biological, functional, cognitive, psychological and socio-economic domain that ultimately lead to homeostatic instability. Therefore, the multidimensional aspects of frailty condition could be captured by the comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) and its derived Multidimensional Prognostic Index (MPI). This instrument has been applied in different clinical settings and in several cohorts of older adults with specific acute and chronic diseases, showing always excellent accuracy in stratifying population according the mortality risk and other negative health outcomes, i.e. hospitalization, institutionalization or admission to homecare services. This MPI “plasticity” provides a single numerical prognostic index which could be helpful in clinical decision making for the management of frail older adults.
Strategies to prevent age-related cognitive decline
Dtsch Med Wochenschr
Meyer AM, Podolski N, Pickert L, Polidori MC
2020-02-01
The increasing aging demographics never seen before is associated with the enormous challenge of dementia epidemics which urgently needs a paradigm shift in the approach to cognitive functions in health and disease. If on one hand the achievement or maintenance of a healthy lifestyle should be a medical priority, the early recognition of cognitive disturbances is mandatory. Cognitive impairment is not only associated with disability and lack of compliance and adherence, but also with dangerous geriatric syndromes such as instability, falls, and delirium.
Inflammation, Lipid (Per)oxidation, and Redox Regulation
Antioxidants & Redox Signaling
Irundika H.K. Dias, Ivana Milic, Christian Heiss, Opeyemi S. Ademowo, Maria Cristina Polidori, Andrew Devitt, and Helen R. Griffiths
2020-02-28
Significance: Inflammation increases during the aging process. It is linked to mitochondrial dysfunction and increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Mitochondrial macromolecules are critical targets of oxidative damage; they contribute to respiratory uncoupling with increased ROS production, redox stress, and a cycle of senescence, cytokine production, and impaired oxidative phosphorylation. Targeting the formation or accumulation of oxidized biomolecules, particularly oxidized lipids, in immune cells and mitochondria could be beneficial for age-related inflammation and comorbidities.
Older women are frailer, but less often die than men: a prospective study of older hospitalized people
Maturitas
Veronese N, Siri G, Cella A, Daragjati J, Cruz-Jentoft AJ, Polidori MC, Mattace-Raso F, Paccalin M, Topinkova E, Greco A, Mangoni AA, Maggi S, Ferrucci L, Pilotto A; MPI AGE Investigators.
2019-10-01
The association between frailty, mortality and sex is complex, but a limited literature is available on this topic, particularly for older hospitalized patients. Therefore, the objective of our study was to prospectively evaluate sex differences in frailty, assessed by the Multidimensional Prognostic Index (MPI) and mortality, institutionalization, and re-hospitalization in an international cohort of older people admitted to hospital.