Is Obesity Associated with Lower Mini Mental Test Scores among Elderly? A Cross Sectional Study

OBJECTIVES

Obesity leads to many chronic diseases and its association with cognitive impairment is controversial. The objective was to investigate the association between obesity, anthropometric measurements and cognitive functions of elderly.

METHODS

Planned cross-sectionally, community-dwelling Cypriots (aged ≥ 50 years) without any neurological disorders, were included. Cognitive impairment evaluated by Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) was the dependent variable. Socio-demographic variables, anthropometric measurements and obesity were the independent variables. The data was collected via face-to-face interview. Logistic regression models were constituted to determine the association of anthropometric measurements, obesity and dementia.

RESULTS

The mean age of participants (n = 541) was 60.0 ± 8.7 for women (n = 377) and 61.5 ± 6.0 years for men (n = 164). According to MMSE, 26.0% of women and 11.0% of men had mild-dementia, and the rest scored normal. After adjusted for age and sex, each unit increase in BMI (OR: 1.045, 95%CI: 1.008-1.091), Waist to height ratio (WHtR; OR: 1.030, 95%CI: 1.006-1.055) and Mid upper arm circumference (MUAC; OR: 1.077, 95%CI: 1.016-1.141) increases the risk of mild-dementia. When education, employment and smoking were included in the models, significance of anthropometric measurements was diminished and only sex and education were remained significant for all.

CONCLUSION

After controlled for age and sex, increment in anthropometric measurements increased the risk of dementia but when education was taken into consideration, this significant association was diminished showing that sex and education is more predominant in a heterogeneous group in means of education. Thus, for heterogeneous groups it might be better to revise MMSE. To determine the association between obesity and dementia cohort studies with longer follow-up duration with larger samples are needed.

The Relationship between Height and Cognitive Function among Community-dwelling Elderly: Hallym Aging Study

OBJECTIVES

Height is known as an index that reflects the environment of the fetal, childhood, and adolescent periods, which affect adult health. This study was conducted to elucidate whether height is associated with cognitive impairment in community-dwelling elders in Korea.

METHODS

The study subjects were recruited among community dwelling elderly individuals aged 65 or over who participated in the 2004 Hallym Aging Study. They were invited to a general hospital and were evaluated for socioeconomic status, smoking history, and various clinical measures. Cognitive function measurement was performed using the Korean-Mini Mental State Examination. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between height and cognitive function.

RESULTS

After adjusting for potential covariates such as age and education, the smallest group was associated with higher risk of cognitive impairment compared with the tallest group among elderly men (odds ratio [OR], 4.20; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02-17.36), but not among elderly women (OR,1.65; 95% CI, 0.62-4.40).

CONCLUSIONS

The reason for this difference according to sex may be explained by the differential effects of education on cognitive function by sex. A larger population-based prospective cohort study is needed to examine the association between height and cognitive function according to sex.