ArticleScientific reports2025
Bidirectional relationship between anemia and cognitive function in middle-aged and older Chinese adults: a longitudinal study.
Article in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Dynamic patterns of anemia and cognitive function: a longitudinal cohort study based on the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Anemia, iron deficiency, and blood biomarkers for Alzheimer disease: clinical interpretation and dementia risk stratification.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The increasing prevalence of anemia and cognitive decline among middle-aged and older adults poses significant public health challenges. While most studies have examined the impact of anemia on cognition, the potential for a bidirectional relationship, where cognitive function also influences anemia risk, remains less explored, particularly via longitudinal designs and advanced modeling. Therefore, we utilized data from 4521 participants (women = 2434, men = 2087) from the initial (2011-2012) and subsequent (2015-2016) waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). We measured hemoglobin levels, global cognitive function, and other factors. Linear regression was used to analyze the association between baseline anemia status and follow-up cognitive function in participants free from low cognitive performance at baseline. Binary logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between baseline cognitive function and the risk of having anemia at follow-up in participants without anemia at baseline. Finally, a cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) was used to evaluate the longitudinal bidirectional association between anemia status and cognition. Baseline anemia status was significantly associated with lower follow-up cognitive scores, particularly among women (estimates, 95% confidence interval, - 0.83 (- 1.39, - 0.28)). Higher baseline cognitive function was associated with a lower risk of follow-up anemia among women (OR = 0.97, 95% CI (0.94-0.99)) but not among men (OR = 0.02, 95% CI (0.98-1.06)). The CLPM results confirmed a robust bidirectional relationship: baseline anemia status predicted lower follow-up cognition (β = - 0.04), and lower baseline cognition predicted a greater risk of having anemia at follow-up (β = - 0.02). The standardized effect size of baseline anemia status on follow-up cognitive function was greater than that of baseline cognitive function on follow-up anemia status (- 0.04 vs. - 0.02). These findings provide strong evidence for a bidirectional longitudinal association between anemia status and cognitive function in this population, suggesting that interventions targeting either condition may yield reciprocal benefits for healthy aging.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.