Associations between body composition and cognitive function in an elderly Korean population: A cohort-based cross-sectional study

The prevalence of obesity as well as cognitive impairment increases with age. Previous studies showed that obesity is associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment and dementia. Body composition changes occur as part of the aging process; therefore, the assessment of obesity in elderly populations should include body composition as well as body weight. This study investigated the relationship between body mass index (BMI), body composition, and cognitive function in a community-dwelling elderly Korean population.This cohort-based cross-sectional analysis included 2386 elderly participants aged between 70 and 84 years from the Korean Frailty and Aging Cohort Study for 2016 to 2017. To investigate the relationship between body composition and cognitive function in community-dwelling individuals, BMI and body composition, including total and trunk fat mass and fat-free mass, were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Fat mass index (FMI), trunk fat mass index (TFMI), and fat-free mass index (FFMI) were used to represent the body composition. A short form of the Korean version of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer disease was used to assess cognitive function. To evaluate the relationship between variables, simple and fully adjusted multivariable analyses were performed using generalized linear regression models.The mean ages were 76.8 years for males and 76.1 years for females. The BMI of male participants was significantly lower than that of females (23.9 ± 2.89 vs 24.7 ± 3.02 kg/m2, P