Sarcopenia and its Cognitive Consequences: Insights from an Urban Indian Cohort

Sarcopenia is associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment. The current study aims to explore the cognitive profiles of individuals with sarcopenia in an urban Indian cohort.

Cognitively healthy participants (N = 1119) aged ≥45 years from the Tata Longitudinal Study of Aging were considered for the study. Sarcopenia was screened using two parameters: calf circumference (M < 34 cm, F < 33 cm) and handgrip strength (M < 28 kg, F < 18 kg). Based on these, participants were classified into three groups, namely healthy (satisfying neither criterion), intermediate (satisfying one criterion), and sarcopenia (satisfying both criteria). Detailed clinical assessments were done. Cognitive functioning was assessed using the Hindi Mental State Examination and Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-III (ACE-III).

The mean age of the participants was 62.03 ± 9.33 years. Of these, 405 (36.2%) participants were healthy controls, 502 (44.9%) were in the intermediate group, and 212 (18.9%) participants belonged to the sarcopenia group. Sarcopenia was significantly associated with diabetes. A generalized linear model, adjusted for sociodemographic features and comorbidities, revealed that the intermediate group had lower scores in the ACE-III fluency test ( P = 0.025), while the sarcopenia group had lower scores in the ACE-III total ( P = 0.002), ACE-III attention ( P = 0.031), and ACE-III fluency ( P < 0.001) tests when compared to the healthy group.

Our study found an important link between sarcopenia and impaired cognitive performance, particularly in attention and verbal fluency. These findings highlight the importance of early detection and interventions targeting physical activity and nutrition, with an effort to mitigate or prevent age-related muscle loss and cognitive impairment.