| Keywords |
Older adults ; Physical function ; Cognitive decline |
| Abstract |
Cognitive decline and dementia are associated with disability and premature death in old age. We examined whether physical function predicts subsequent cognitive decline in older Japanese. There were 557 adult subjects (293 men and 264 women) aged 60 years or older who completed the baseline evaluation (2000-2002) and final evaluation 8 years later (2008-2010) of the NILS-LSA in Japan. We examined associations at the baseline and after an 8-year follow-up period between MMSE and six physical performance measures: gait speed, one leg standing with eyes closed, reaction time, leg extension power, grip strength and knee extension strength. We examined the effect of physical function on cognitive decline (at least a 3-point decline on the MMSE) by multiple logistic regression controlled for age, sex, BMI, MMSE score at baseline, smoking, self-rated health, CES-D, education, medical history and moderate to vigorous physical activity time. There was a significant association between the leg extension power (OR, 0.26; CI, 0.10-0.68) and the risk of a decrease of up to 3 points in Model 1 was adjusted for age and education. In Model II, leg extension power (OR, 0.28; CI, 0.10-0.76) was related to a decrease in the cognitive function over time and remained statistically significant after controlling for all covariates. However, the other physical functions were not statistically significant in either the limited or full adjustment models. Older Japanese with reduced leg extension power at baseline demonstrated a statistically significant decline in cognitive function over an 8-year period. |