[Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of physical performance and skeletal muscle mass with cognition and cognitive decline among community-dwelling older Japanese].
OBJECTIVE
This study had two objectives: to confirm the cross-sectional associations between the physical performance scale (PPS), skeletal muscle mass (SMM) and sarcopenia and cognition, and to examine whether PPS, SMM and sarcopenia are independent risk markers of cognitive decline (CD).


METHODS
Among 805 adults 65 years of age or older who participated in a baseline survey (2008-2011), 649 were reevaluated for their level of cognition at least once until 2012, and PPS, SMM, sarcopenia and cognition were assessed. CD was defined as a decrease of at least 0.5 points per year on the MMSE.


RESULTS
After controlling for sex, age and years of education, PPS, SMM and sarcopenia were associated with cognition, respectively. During a median follow-up of 3.0 years, 201 adults (31.0%) had CD. After controlling for important confounders, PPS showed a significant association with CD [OR=0.75 (95%CI: 0.65-0.87)], whereas SMM showed no significant association with CD. As compared with the people who had normal PPS and SMM, people who had low PPS and normal SMM had 2.10 times higher risk for CD.


CONCLUSIONS
We confirmed the cross-sectional associations between physical performance, SMM and sarcopenia and cognition in a general population of older adults. Although people had normal SMM, low physical performance was found to be a risk marker for subsequent CD.
Research Team for Social Participation and Community Health, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology.
Yu
Y
Taniguchi
Satoshi
S
Seino
Yoshinori
Y
Fujiwara
Yu
Y
Nofuji
Mariko
M
Nishi
Hiroshi
H
Murayama
Hidenori
H
Amano
Eri
E
Matsuo
Shoji
S
Shinkai
D000368:Aged; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D057187:Independent Living; D016015:Logistic Models; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D055948:Sarcopenia / Q000503:physiopathology