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Pathway linking nutritional status to cognitive function in older adults with chronic diseases: Exploring the
Xiaopan Xu1, Ling Meng2, Yingzhen Wang3
1Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Lu'an Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Lu'an, 237005, China.
Objective:
This study aimed to explore the pathway linking nutritional status to cognitive function in older adults with chronic diseases, and whether sleep quality potentially mediates their association.
Methods:
A cross-sectional study was conducted among 248 older adults with chronic diseases who were admitted in a district tertiary hospital, Shenzhen, China from January to December 2022. The participants completed the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics questionnaire, the Mini Nutritional Assessment Short Form (MNA-SF), the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Scale (PSQI). Linear regression and the bootstrap method were employed for data analysis.
Results:
We observed that older adults with chronic diseases showed notable cognitive decline, as indicated by a MoCA score (mean = 23.60, SD = 4.68). The direct effect analysis indicated that older adults with compromised nutritional status were more likely to experience cognitive decline (β = 1.006, P < 0.001). The mediation analysis revealed that sleep quality partially mediated the relationship between nutrition and cognitive function, accounting for 17.59 % of the overall effect. Specifically, poor sleep quality may increase the risk of subsequent cognitive decline among older adults with compromised nutritional status.
Conclusions:
This study identified that the impact of nutritional status on cognitive performance was partially mediated by sleep quality in older adults with chronic diseases. Further supporting the importance of high-quality sleep in maintaining brain health during aging. Monitoring and enhancing nutritional status and sleep quality may contribute to mitigating the progression of cognitive decline.
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