Appendicular Lean Mass, Grip Strength, and the Incidence of Dementia Among Older Adults in the Health ABC Study

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
² Department of Radiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
³ Department of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA.
⁴ GRECC, VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, Washington, USA.
⁵ Department of Biostatistics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
⁶ Departments of Family Medicine, Epidemiology, and Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
⁷ Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.
⁸ Departments of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.
⁹ California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, and University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.

PMID: 36548124
PMCID: PMC10613012
DOI: 10.1093/gerona/glac254

Appendicular Lean Mass, Grip Strength, and the Incidence of Dementia Among Older Adults in the Health ABC Study

James S Andrews et al. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2023.

. 2023 Oct 28;78(11):2070-2076.

doi: 10.1093/gerona/glac254.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
² Department of Radiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
³ Department of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA.
⁴ GRECC, VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, Washington, USA.
⁵ Department of Biostatistics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
⁶ Departments of Family Medicine, Epidemiology, and Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
⁷ Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.
⁸ Departments of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.
⁹ California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, and University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.

PMID: 36548124
PMCID: PMC10613012
DOI: 10.1093/gerona/glac254

Abstract

Background: Identification of novel risk factors for dementia in older adults could facilitate development of methods to identify patients most at risk and improve their cognitive outcomes. We aimed to determine whether lower appendicular lean mass (ALM), assessed by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), and lower grip strength are associated with a greater likelihood of incident dementia among older adults in the Health Aging and Body Composition Study (Health ABC).

Methods: Health ABC data from 1997 to 2008 were analyzed (n = 2 704). Baseline ALM to body mass index (BMI) ratio (ALMBMI) was assessed by DXA. Baseline grip strength was assessed by hand-held dynamometry. Incident dementia diagnosis was defined as either (i) dementia-related hospitalization plus a Modified Mini-Mental State Examination (3MS) score of ≤ 90; or (ii) record of prescription for anti-dementia medication; or (iii) decline of at least 1.5 SDs on the 3MS score compared to baseline. Cox proportional hazard models estimated associations of ALMBMI and grip strength with incident dementia over follow-up with and without adjusting for covariates, stratified by sex.

Results: Among older men, each standard deviation decrement in ALMBMI (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR]: 1.33; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.07, 1.65) or grip strength (aHR 1.22; 95% CI: 1.06, 1.41) was associated with increased likelihood of incident dementia.

Conclusions: Lower ALMBMI and grip strength may be important risk factors for the development of dementia among older men. How these factors may belong to a causal pathway of dementia must be elucidated in future work.

Keywords: Body composition; Cognition; Muscle; Sex.

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Conflict of interest statement

None declared.

Figures

**Figure 1.**
(A) Kaplan–Meier curves depicting the probability of dementia-free survival by baseline appendicular lean mass to BMI ratio (ALM_BMI) status among older adults in the Health ABC study, stratified by sex. (B) Kaplan–Meier curves depicting the probability of dementia-free survival by grip strength status among older adults in the Health ABC study, stratified by sex.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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K23 AG058756/AG/NIA NIH HHS/United States

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Appendicular Lean Mass, Grip Strength, and the Incidence of Dementia Among Older Adults in the Health ABC Study

Affiliations

Appendicular Lean Mass, Grip Strength, and the Incidence of Dementia Among Older Adults in the Health ABC Study

Authors

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Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

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References

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