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. 2022 Feb 22;19(5):2492.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19052492.

Sarcopenic Obesity Tendency and Nutritional Status Is Related to the Risk of Sarcopenia, Frailty, Depression and Quality of Life in Patients with Dementia

Hsi-Hsien Chou  1   2 , Te-Jen Lai  3   4 , Chi-Hua Yen  1   5 , Po-Sheng Chang  6   7 , Ji-Cyun Pan  6 , Ping-Ting Lin  6   8
Affiliations

Sarcopenic Obesity Tendency and Nutritional Status Is Related to the Risk of Sarcopenia, Frailty, Depression and Quality of Life in Patients with Dementia

Hsi-Hsien Chou et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the nutritional status of dementia patients and examine the correlation with sarcopenia, frailty, depression, and quality of life. We enrolled patients aged 60 years and over with Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores ≤ 26 (Taiwan), and dementia diagnosed by a neurologist or psychiatrist. Nutritional status was assessed with the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA). Muscle mass was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Muscle strength and endurance were evaluated by handgrip, leg-back strength, dumbbell curls, sit to stand test, and gait speed. Quality of life, frailty, and depression status were measured by questionnaires. Patients with moderate dementia (MMSE ≤ 20) had a significantly lower MNA score, muscle function, and quality of life than patients with mild dementia (p < 0.01). A lower MNA score was significantly associated with the risk of frailty (odds ratio: 4.76, p < 0.01), depression (odds ratio: 3.17, p = 0.03), and poor quality of life (odds ratio: 2.73, p < 0.05), and sarcopenia (odds ratio: 3.97, p = 0.03) after adjusting for potential confounders. In conclusion, patients with dementia were at risk of malnutrition, and nutritional status was associated to the risk of sarcopenia, frailty, depression, and quality of life.

Keywords: dementia; depression; frailty; nutritional status; quality of life; sarcopenia.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The proportion of sarcopenia components of patients with dementia. Blue is mild dementia; yellow is moderate dementia. 1 CC for male: <34 cm; female: <33 cm. 2 ASMI for male: <7.0 kg/m2; female: <5.4 kg/m2. 3 Handgrip strength for male: <28 kg; female: <18 kg. 4 Five-time sit to stand test ≥12 s. 5 The gait speed <1.0 m/s. 6 The SPPB score ≤9. *, p < 0.05; †, p = 0.06; ‡, p = 0.07. ASMI, appendicular skeletal muscle mass index; CC, calf circumference; SPPB, short physical performance battery.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Correlations between nutritional status and the severity of dementia, frailty, depression, and quality of life. (A) Correlation between MNA and MMSE score (r = 0.42; p < 0.01). (B) Correlation between MNA and frailty score (r = −0.35; p < 0.01). (C) Correlation between MNA and depression score (r = −0.42; p < 0.01). (D) Correlation between MNA and quality of life score (r = 0.44; p < 0.01). Blue dot is mild dementia; yellow triangle is moderate dementia. MMSE, Mini Mental State Examination; MNA, mini nutritional assessment.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The proportion of sarcopenic obesity in patients with dementia. (A) The proportion of obesity in dementia patients with sarcopenia. Green is obesity dementia patients with sarcopenia; orange is non-obesity dementia patients with sarcopenia. (B) The proportion of dementia severity in patients with dementia stratified by sarcopenic obesity (p = 0.13). Blue is mild dementia; yellow is moderate dementia.
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