Skeletal muscle adiposity is a novel risk factor for poor cognition in African Caribbean women

• Published in: Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) Md.), 2023-09, Vol.31 (9), p.2398-2406
• Main Authors: Acevedo‐Fontánez, Adrianna I., Cvejkus, Ryan K., Zmuda, Joseph M., Kuipers, Allison L., Barinas‐Mitchell, Emma, Sekikawa, Akira, Wheeler, Victor, Rosano, Caterina, Miljkovic, Iva
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adiposity; Aging; Antidiabetics; Body mass index; Caribbean Region; Cognition & reasoning; Cognition - physiology; Cognitive ability; Dementia; Diabetes; Diabetes Mellitus; Education; Female; Humans; Hypertension; Hypertension - complications; Hypertension - epidemiology; Information processing; Lifestyles; Medical screening; Muscle, Skeletal - diagnostic imaging; Musculoskeletal system; Obesity; Obesity - complications; Population; Questionnaires; Risk Factors; Software; Womens health
• ISSN: 1930-7381; 1930-739X; 1930-739X
• DOI: 10.1002/oby.23816

Objective Skeletal muscle adiposity (myosteatosis) is recognized as a major risk factor for cardiometabolic diseases, and it increases with aging. The relationship of myosteatosis with cognitive impairment is unknown. Methods The association of calf myosteatosis (measured by computed tomography‐derived skeletal muscle density; higher values indicate less myosteatosis) with cognitive function was examined among 626 African Caribbean women who were aged 40 to 84 years, a population highly vulnerable to increased myosteatosis. Cognition was assessed by the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST), a test of information processing speed (higher scores indicate better performance). Linear regression was used to assess the association of muscle density with DSST. Results Adjusting for age, education, muscle area, BMI, hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular event history, lifestyle factors, lipid‐lowering medication use, and menopausal status, a one‐SD lower muscle density was associated with a 1.69‐point lower DSST score (p = 0.002). BMI, diabetes, and hypertension interactions were not statistically significant, suggesting that the main association was not moderated by overall obesity or cardiometabolic diseases. Conclusions These findings suggest that greater myosteatosis is associated with slower information processing speed, an early indicator of cognitive impairment. Further studies are needed to establish this association in this and other populations using an expanded battery of cognitive tests with longitudinal follow‐up and to identify the biological mechanisms underlying this relationship.