Decline in skeletal muscle mass is associated with cognitive decline in type 2 diabetes mellitus

To examine the longitudinal association between skeletal muscle mass (SMM) loss and cognitive decline over time in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). We conducted a prospective cohort study of 453 patients from SMART2D cohort with follow-up intervals of 1.6 to 6.4 years. Baseline and follow-up measurements included bio-impedance analysis (BIA) measure of skeletal muscle mass index (SMI) and Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) measure of cognitive function. We examined the association between annual rate of SMI and RBANS scores using linear regression, adjusting for demographics, education, depression, clinical co-variables and presence of apolipoprotein E4 (APOE) Ɛ4 allele. The mean age of participants was 60.3 ± 7.4 years. Compared to patients with Tertile 1 SMI change, the group with greater SMI decline (Tertile 3 SMI change) experienced 0.30 decline in RBANS total score (95%CI −0.57 to −0.03; p = 0.030) in the adjusted analysis. RBANS scores for subdomains in immediate memory and visuo-spatial/construction were lower in Tertile 3 SMI change group with corresponding coefficients −0.54 (95%CI −1.01 to −0.06; p = 0.026), and −0.71 (95%CI −1.30 to −0.12; p = 0.019) respectively. In patients with T2DM, BIA measure of muscle mass loss over time was independently associated with cognitive decline globally and in the domains of memory and visuo-spatial/construction. •Muscle mass loss over time was associated with cognitive decline globally.•It was also associated with domains of memory and visuo-spatial/construction.•It is potentially useful to monitor changes in muscle mass in diabetes care.