Nutritional Status and Risks of Cognitive Decline and Incident Neurocognitive Disorders: Singapore Longitudinal Ageing Studies

Background Studies suggest that nutritional interventions using the whole diet approach such as the Mediterranean diet may delay cognitive decline and dementia onset. However, substantial numbers of older adults are non-adherent to any ideally healthy dietary pattern and are at risk of malnutrition. Objective The present study investigated the relationship between global malnutrition risk and onsets of cognitive decline and neurocognitive disorders (NCD), including mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia in community-dwelling older adults. Methods Participants aged ≥55 years in the Singapore Longitudinal Ageing Studies (SLAS) were assessed at baseline using the Elderly Nutritional Indicators for Geriatric Malnutrition Assessment (ENIGMA) and followed up 3–5 years subsequently on cognitive decline (MMSE drop ≥ 2) among 3128 dementia-free individuals, and incident neurocognitive disorders (NCD) among 2640 cognitive normal individuals. Results Individuals at high nutritional risk score (≥3) were more likely to develop cognitive decline (OR=1.42, 95%CI=1.01–1.99) and incident MCI-or-dementia (OR=1.64, 95%CI=1.03–2.59), controlling for age, sex, ethnicity, low education, APOE-e4, hearing loss, physical, social, and mental activities, depressive symptoms, smoking, alcohol, central obesity, hypertension, diabetes, low HDL, high triglyceride, cardiac disease, and stroke. Among ENIGMA component indicators, low albumin at baseline was associated with cognitive decline and incident NCD, and 5 or more drugs used, few fruits/vegetables/milk products daily, and low total cholesterol were associated with incident NCD. Conclusion The ENIGMA measure of global malnutrition risk predicts cognitive decline and incident neurocognitive disorders, suggesting the feasibility of identifying vulnerable subpopulations of older adults for correction of malnutrition risk to prevent neurocognitive disorders.