Potential association of bone mineral density loss with cognitive impairment and central and peripheral amyloid-β changes: a cross-sectional study

Background There is some evidence in the literature that older adults with cognitive impairments have a higher risk for falls and osteoporotic hip fractures. Currently, the associations between bone health and cognitive health have not been extensively studied. Thus, the present cross-sectional study aims to investigate the relationship between markers of bone loss and cognitive performance in older adults with and without osteopenia as well as older adults with cognitive impairments (i.e., Alzheimer’s disease [AD]). Methods Sixty-two non-osteopenia participants and one hundred three osteopenia participants as the cohort 1 and 33 cognitively normal non-AD participants and 39 AD participants as the cohort 2 were recruited. To assess cognitive and bone health, hip bone mineral density (BMD) and cognitive performance (via Minimal Mental State Examination [MMSE] and/or Auditory Verbal Learning Test-delayed recall [AVLT-DR]) were assessed. Furthermore, in cohort 1, plasma amyloid-β (Aβ) levels, and in cohort 2, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) Aβ levels were determined. Results We observed that (1) compared with non-osteopenia participants, BMD values (t = − 22.806; 95%CI: − 1.801, − 1.484; p