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. 2020 Nov 23;12(11):3594.
doi: 10.3390/nu12113594.

Iron Status is Associated with Mood, Cognition, and Functional Ability in Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

Carlos Portugal-Nunes  1   2   3 , Teresa Costa Castanho  1   2   3 , Liliana Amorim  1   2   4 , Pedro Silva Moreira  1   2   3 , José Mariz  1   2   3   5 , Fernanda Marques  1   2 , Nuno Sousa  1   2   3 , Nadine Correia Santos  1   2   4 , Joana Almeida Palha  1   2   3
Affiliations

Iron Status is Associated with Mood, Cognition, and Functional Ability in Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

Carlos Portugal-Nunes et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Several conditions are risk factors for iron deficiency (ID), some of which are highly prevalent in older individuals. Despite the amount of evidence pointing for a role of ID in cognition, mood and physical functional ability, the research addressing these associations in older individuals is still scarce. In the present study, 162 older community-dwelling individuals (29.53% classified as ID) were enrolled in a cross-sectional analysis and characterized regarding cognition, mood, functional ability, general nutritional intake and iron status. Assessment of iron status was performed using several blood biomarkers. Storage and erythropoiesis dimensions were positively associated with memory, along with an interaction (moderator effect) between iron storage and nutritional status. A more depressed mood was negatively associated with (iron) transport, transport saturation and erythropoiesis dimensions, and functional tiredness was positively associated with the erythropoiesis dimension. These observations indicate that lower iron status is associated with depressive mood, functional tiredness and poorer memory ability, with the latter moderated by nutritional status. These findings suggest that using iron as a continuous variable may be useful in finding associations with iron homeostasis, eventually missed when iron levels are considered within the usual classification groups.

Keywords: aging; cognition; iron deficiency; mood; physical functional ability.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic representation of recruitment and inclusion of participants in the study.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Cognition, mood and physical functional ability comparison between iron sufficient and iron deficient participants. (a) Executive dimension (z-score); (b) Memory dimension (z-score); (c) Mini-mental state examination (MMSE) score; (d) Geriatric depression scale (GDS) score; (e) Functional tiredness dimension (z-score); (f) Functional help dimension (z-score). * p < 0.05.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Adjusted association of storage dimension with memory according to nutritional status (mini nutritional assessment, MNA).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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