Body Mass Index in Different Dementia Disorders: Results from the Swedish Dementia Quality Registry (SveDem).
BACKGROUND
Most patients with dementia lose body weight over the course of the disease and have a lower body mass index (BMI) than subjects with normal cognition.


OBJECTIVE
To examine body mass index and how it correlates with cognitive status, age and gender in patients with different dementia disorders.


METHODS
Data from newly diagnosed dementia patients in the Swedish Dementia Quality Registry (SveDem) and recorded information about age, gender, cognitive status and BMI was analyzed using independent samples t tests and one-way analysis of variance.


RESULTS
A total of 12,015 patients, 7,121 females and 4,894 males were included in the study. The average BMI was 24. More than a quarter of the patients had a BMI of <22. Females were significantly older (p < 0.001) and males had a significantly higher BMI (p < 0.001) at the time of diagnosis. BMI differed significantly by gender in various dementia disorders and correlated significantly with cognitive status and age.


CONCLUSIONS
At the time of diagnosis, patients with various dementia disorders had a BMI within the normal range. However, a significant number had a BMI in a lower, suboptimal range for older persons stressing the need for nutritional assessment as part of the dementia work up. Further analyses with longitudinal follow-up are needed to investigate BMI changes over time.
Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society Karolinska Institutet, Sweden ; Department of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Uppsala, Sweden.
Gerd
G
Faxén-Irving
Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.
Seyed-Mohammad
SM
Fereshtehnejad
Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.
Farshad
F
Falahati
Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.
Lars
L
Cedergren
Department of Food, Nutrition and Dietetics, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Helen
H
Göranzon
Department of Food, Nutrition and Dietetics, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Kristine
K
Wallman
Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society Karolinska Institutet, Sweden ; Department of Medicine, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
Sara
S
García-Ptacek
Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society Karolinska Institutet, Sweden ; Department of Geriatric Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Uppsala, Sweden.
Maria
M
Eriksdotter
Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society Karolinska Institutet, Sweden ; Department of Geriatric Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Uppsala, Sweden ; Medical Research Centre, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
Dorota
D
Religa
Alzheimer's disease; Body mass index; Cognitive status; Dementia; Quality registry