Probable sarcopenia is associated with cognitive impairment among community-dwelling older adults: results from the FIBRA study.

Abstract

The link between sarcopenia and cognitive impairment has not yet been thoroughly evaluated, especially among older adults. To evaluate the relationship between probable sarcopenia and cognitive impairment among community-dwelling older adults in two Brazilian cities. Probable sarcopenia was assessed using the EWGSOP2 (2018) criteria. Thus, participants were classified as probably having sarcopenia if they had SARC-F (Strength, Assistance in walking, Rise from a chair, Climb stairs and Falls) ≥4 points and low grip strength. Cognitive function was evaluated through the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), verbal fluency (VF) and clock drawing test (CDT). In a sample of 529 older adults (mean age 80.8±4.9 years; mean education 4.2±3.67 years; 70.1% women), 27.3% of the participants had SARC-F≥4, 38.3% had low grip strength and 13.6% were classified as probable sarcopenia cases. After adjusting for possible confounders (age, sex, education, depression, diabetes, hypertension, leisure-time physical activity and obesity), probable sarcopenia was found to be associated with impairment in the MMSE (OR 2.52; 95%CI 1.42‒4.47; p=0.002) and in VF (OR 2.17; 95%CI 1.17‒4.01; p=0.014). Low grip strength was found to be associated with impairment in the MMSE (OR 1.83; 95%CI 1.18‒2.82; p=0.006) and in the CDT (OR 1.79; 95%CI 1.18‒2.73; p=0.006). SARC-F scores were found to be associated with impairment in the MMSE (OR 1.90; 95%CI 1.18‒3.06; p=0.008). The results suggested that probable sarcopenia and its components present a significant association with cognitive deficits among community-dwelling older adults. Future longitudinal studies will further explore the causal relationship.