Association Between Metabolic Disorders and Cognitive Domains in Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

Abstract

Objectives: evaluate the association between Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) and cognitive performance (global and in each domain) in community-dwelling older adults.

Methods: cross-sectional study with 544 participants (≥60 years). Cognition was assessed using the Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument - Short (CASI-S), evaluating four domains: memory, orientation, executive function, recall. MetS was identified considering five components: abdominal obesity, diabetes, hypertriglyceridemia, low HDL, and hypertension. Mann-Whitney test and Poisson regression models adjusted for age and education were used to assess the differences in cognition scores.

Results: Hypertensive participants had lower global cognition, and those with hypertriglyceridemia had lower memory scores; obese individuals reached lower executive function and higher recall scores. Diabetes was associated with worse recall in men, and low HDL to lower memory scores; hypertensive women had worse recall. In adjusted models, association between abdominal obesity, executive function and recall (total sample) remained significant (p = .003 and p = .048, respectively).

Conclusions: Global cognition was not associated to metabolic disorders, but obesity was associated to lower executive function and higher recall.

Clinical implications: Assessing each cognitive domain may be more sensitive in subjects with MetS components, and interaction between components, sex and education also must be considered to establish adequate care strategies for the older adults.