ArticleJournal of the American Geriatrics Society2021
Sarcopenia is associated with incident Alzheimer's dementia, mild cognitive impairment, and cognitive decline.
Article in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 167 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
167 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 216 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association of sarcopenic obesity with cognitive dysfunction and dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2025Pooled it
- Prevalence and correlation of sarcopenia with Alzheimer's disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2025Pooled it
- Associations between gut microbiota and sarcopenia or its defining parameters in older adults: A systematic review.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2024Pooled it
- Meta-analysis on the interrelationship between sarcopenia and mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2024Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of the prevalence and correlation of mild cognitive impairment in sarcopenia.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2023Pooled it
- Association between sarcopenia and cognitive impairment in the older people: a meta-analysis.European geriatric medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Effects of different physical activities on brain-derived neurotrophic factor: A systematic review and bayesian network meta-analysis.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2022Pooled it
- Effect of Electrical Muscle Stimulation and Resistance Exercise Intervention on Physical and Brain Function in Middle-Aged and Older Women.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Trial
- Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis Mechanisms in Cognitive Impairment Associated with Central Obesity.Current obesity reports · 2026Review
- Bioimpedance: From Body Composition Assessment to Emerging Technologies in Clinical Nutrition.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Sarcopenia in gallbladder perforation: a radiological comparison study.Abdominal radiology (New York) · 2026Article
- Cognitive Impairment and Long-Term Cognitive Trajectories in Relation to Incident Sarcopenia.Annals of geriatric medicine and research · 2026Article
- Efficacy of personalized acupuncture combined with accelerated deep transcranial magnetic stimulation in mild cognitive impairment: A randomized controlled trial.Integrative medicine research · 2026Article
- Effects of different exercise types and intensities in older adults with sarcopenia: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.European geriatric medicine · 2026Review
- Temporalis muscle biomarkers from routine brain MRI and risk of dementia in two independent cohorts.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Protein Consumption and Cognitive Health in Aging: Associations with Sarcopenia and Dietary Options, a Narrative Review.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Association of sarcopenia, sarcopenic obesity with incident dementia, cognitive functions, and brain structure: findings from the UK Biobank Study.The journal of nutrition, health & aging · 2026Article
- Abdominal adiposity and Alzheimer's disease imaging markers across sex and race at midlife.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2026Article
- Amino acid and appendicular skeletal muscle mass insufficiency are associated to cognitive decline in Chinese population.GeroScience · 2026Article
- The Gut-Brain-Muscle Axis: Microbial Regulation of Neuromuscular Aging and Cognitive Frailty.Microorganisms · 2026Review
107 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveWe examined whether sarcopenia is associated with the occurrence of late-life cognitive impairment.
methodsNondemented older adults (N = 1175) underwent annual testing with 17 cognitive tests summarized as a global cognitive score. A composite sarcopenia score was constructed based on muscle mass measured with bioelectrical impedance and muscle function based on grip strength. Cox proportional hazard models were employed to examine associations of sarcopenia with incident Alzheimer's dementia (AD) and incident mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Linear mixed-effect models determined the association of sarcopenia with cognitive decline. All models controlled for age, sex, education, race, and height squared.
resultsAverage follow-up was 5.6 years. More severe sarcopenia at baseline was associated with a higher risk of incident AD (hazard ratio [HR], 1.50 [95% confidence interval 1.20-1.86]; p < 0.001) and of MCI (1.21 [1.01-1.45]; 0.04) and a faster rate of cognitive decline (estimate = -0.013; p = 0.01). Analyses of the individual components of sarcopenia showed that muscle function was associated with incident AD, incident MCI, and cognitive decline with and without a term for lean muscle mass in the model. In contrast, lean muscle mass was not associated with incident cognitive impairment or cognitive decline when a term for muscle function was included in the model.
conclusionsPoor muscle function, but not reduced lean muscle mass, drives the association of sarcopenia with late-life cognitive impairment. Further work is needed to identify features of muscle structure, which may increase the specificity of sarcopenia for identifying older adults at risk for late-life cognitive impairment.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.