ArticlePsychiatry investigation2026
Exploring Body Roundness Index's Mediating Role in the Depression-Cognitive Performance Relationship Among US Adults (≥60 Years): Evidence From National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Article in Psychiatry investigation, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveLate-life depression is a known risk factor for cognitive decline, yet the role of central adiposity, measured by the body roundness index (BRI), remains unclear. This study examined whether BRI mediates the relationship between depressive symptoms and cognitive performance in older adults.
methodsOur analysis included 2,580 adults aged 60 and over, using data from NHANES. Depressive symptoms were assessed via the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), cognitive function was evaluated using the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD) Word Learning and Delayed Recall (CERAD-WL/DR), Animal Fluency test (AFT), and Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST), and BRI was calculated from waist circumference and height. Analyses included weighted multivariable logistic regression, restricted cubic spline analyses, subgroup and sensitivity analyses, and mediation analyses.
resultsAcross all assessment modalities, there was a significant link between high PHQ-9 scores and cognitive performance. For continuous PHQ-9 scores, each 1-point increase corresponded to: CERAD (odds ratio [OR]=1.034, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.000-1.070, p=0.049), AFT (OR=1.046, 95% CI: 1.014-1.079, p=0.007), and DSST (OR=1.080, 95% CI: 1.040-1.123, p<0.001). Categorical analysis revealed particularly strong effects for moderate-to-severe depression (PHQ-9 ≥10) versus minimal symptoms (PHQ-9, 0-4): DSST (OR=2.562, 95% CI: 1.432-4.584, p=0.004), AFT (OR=1.834, 95% CI: 1.239-2.714, p=0.005), with CERAD showing marginal significance (OR=1.454, 95% CI: 0.936-2.259, p=0.090). Sensitivity analyses confirmed the stability of these associations in multiply imputed datasets. BRI exhibited a statistical mediation effect, accounting for 7.23% (β=-0.021, p=0.006) of the depression-DSST association, though mediation effects were nonsignificant for CERAD (6.21%, p=0.184) or AFT (4.41%, p=0.448).
conclusionDepression severity was independently linked to lower cognitive performance, with BRI partially mediating this relationship.
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.