Association Between Physical Performance and Cognitive Function in Chinese Community-Dwelling Older Adults: Serial Mediation of Malnutrition and Depression

Figures & data

Table 1 Baseline Subject Characteristics According to the Incidence of MCI

Characteristic	Normal (n=1187)	MCI (n=199)	P
Age (y)	73.01±5.842	75.85±7.239	<0.001
Gender			<0.001
Men (%)	44.1	27.1
Women (%)	55.9	72.9
BMI (kg/h2)	23.67±3.480	23.61±3.289	0.822
Widowed (%)	18.0	35.7	<0.001
Living alone (%)	15.3	30.2	<0.001
Farming (%)	51.3	67.3	<0.001
Education			<0.001
Illiterate (%)	32.2	64.3
Primary school or less (%)	35.9	12.1
Junior high school (%)	24.9	17.6
Senior high school (%)	5.1	5.0
College (%)	0.8	0
Smoking (%)	15.4	14.1	0.748
Drinking (%)	28.2	28.3	1.000
SPPB score	10.37±2.042	9.41±2.396	<0.001
Balance	3.47±0.889	3.23±0.998	0.001
Walking speed	3.78±0.595	3.53±0.803	<0.001
Chair stands	3.12±1.113	2.65±1.238	<0.001
GDS score	5.56±4.568	6.70±5.418	0.002
Depression	11.5	17.7	0.014
MNA score	24.62±2.471	24.20±2.411	0.025
Malnutrition	2.4	2.5
Risk of malnutrition	34.3	43.7
Well-nourished	63.3	53.8
ASM (kg)	17.28±3.856	16.36±3.313	0.003
IPAQ (Met/week)	7016.62±7002.34	5700.33±5435.72	0.012
Number of diseases
Diabetes (%)	16.3	16.6	0.913
Hypertension (%)	61.6	67.8	0.064
Hyperlipidemia (%)	12.6	9.0	0.185
Gout (%)	6.2	4.0	0.088
Stroke (%)	10.2	13.1	0.238
Heart disease (%)	33.5	35.2	0.331
Cancer (%)	3.9	3.0	0.336
Osteoarthritis (%)	16.0	20.6	0.096
Peptic ulcer (%)	14.4	10.6	0.149
Parkinson (%)	1.2	1.0	0.386

Notes: Data are presented as means ± SD or percentage (%).

Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; SPPB, Short Physical Performance Battery score; MNA, Mini Nutritional Assessment; GDS, Geriatric Depression Scale; ASM, Appendicular Skeletal Mass; IPAQ, International Physical Activity.

Table 2 Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlations Among the Variables

Variable	M	SD	1.SPPB	2.MNA	3.GDS	4.MMSE
1.SPPB	10.24	2.122	NA
2.MNA	24.56	2.466	0.238**	NA
3.GDS	5.73	4.712	−0.235**	−0.255**	NA
4.MMSE	24.62	4.723	0.421**	0.180**	−0.164**	NA

Note: **p < 0.001.

Abbreviations: M, means; SD, standard deviations; NA, not applicable; SPPB, Short Physical Performance Battery score; MNA, Mini Nutritional Assessment; GDS, Geriatric Depression Scale; MMSE, Mini Mental State Examination.

Figure 1 Nutritional status and depressive symptoms as mediators of physical performance and cognitive function.

Notes: **p<0.01. *p<0.05.

Table 3 Specific Indirect Effects of Physical Performance Through Nutritional Status and Depression on Cognitive Function

Effect	Product of Coefficients	Bootstrapping 95% BCa Confidence Interval
	Point Estimate	SE	Lower	Upper
Total Indirect Effect	0.0369	0.0150	0.0100	0.0696
SPPB>MNA>MMSE	0.0161	0.0103	−0.0014	0.0393
SPPB>GDS>MMSE	0.0171	0.0092	0.0010	0.0365
SPPB>MNA>GDS>MMSE	0.0036	0.0023	0.0002	0.0090

Notes: Model adjusted for age, gender, BMI, IPAQ, ASM, farming, living alone, widowed, Illiteracy, smoking, drinking, diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, heart disease, peptic ulcer, and osteoarthritis.

Abbreviations: SPPB, Short Physical Performance Battery score; MNA, Mini Nutritional Assessment; GDS, Geriatric Depression Scale; MMSE, Mini Mental State Examination.