Short Sitting Height and Low Relative Sitting Height Are Associated with Severe Cognitive Impairment among Older Women in an Urban Community in China.
BACKGROUND
Anthropometric indexes are powerful indicators of the environment and the plasticity of the human body. This study aimed at exploring the anthropometric indexes that are associated with late-life cognition impairment among the elderly Chinese in the Shanghai Aging Study.


METHODS
The height, weight, and sitting height of 3,741 participants were measured. Participants were diagnosed with 'dementia', 'mild cognitive impairment', or 'cognitive normal' by neurologists using DSM-IV and Petersen criteria. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between height, sitting height, leg length or relative sitting height and cognitive function.


RESULTS
Participants with dementia had the shortest body height (mean 157.2 cm, SD 9.1), the shortest sitting height (mean 81.8 cm, SD 5.6), and the lowest relative sitting height (mean 52.0 cm, SD 1.9). After adjustment for age, gender, education, lifestyles, medical history, apolipoprotein genotype and weight, shorter sitting height (OR 1.08, 95% CI 1.01-1.16 per cm), longer leg length (OR 0.93, 95% CI 0.88-0.99 per cm), and lower relative sitting height (OR 1.17, 95% CI 1.04-1.31 per 1%) were found to be significantly associated with dementia in older women.


CONCLUSIONS
The potential risks for late-life severe cognitive impairment may be related to health problems in childhood and slow growth during puberty in women.
Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Xiaoniu
X
Liang
Xiantao
X
Li
Ding
D
Ding
Qianhua
Q
Zhao
Jianfeng
J
Luo
Qihao
Q
Guo
Zhen
Z
Hong
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000886:Anthropometry; D001827:Body Height / Q000502:physiology*; D002681:China; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D014505:Urban Population