a Department of Life and Health Sciences, School of Sciences and Engineering , University of Nicosia , Nicosia , Cyprus.
b Department of Nutrition and Dietetics , King's College London , London , UK.
J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 2018 Dec;40(10):1030-1043. doi: 10.1080/13803395.2018.1483487. Epub 2018 Jun 28.
Although metabolic syndrome (MetS) has been shown to increase the risk of cognitive decline, it still remains unclear whether the risk is related to MetS as a whole or its individual factors. The aim of the present study was to explore whether MetS or its individual factors are associated with a lower cognitive function in older adults in a Mediterranean population using latent variable modeling.
Neurocognitive data from 640 Greek-Cypriot community dwellers (female 59.1%), aged ≥55 years, in good general health, were analyzed. Assessments of anthropometric, blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and triglyceride concentrations were carried out to investigate the relationship between MetS factors and cognitive-linguistic outcomes of language, executive function, and verbal episodic memory.
When the MetS factors were modeled as a single latent variable, they had small negative effects on language and executive functions. Significance was not retained after age and education were controlled for. When individual MetS factors along with age and education were modeled as predictors, there were moderate negative age effects, whereas education yielded strong positive effects on all three cognitive outcomes. Weak significant negative coefficients of body mass index (BMI) and blood glucose were found for executive functions, and a weak significant positive effect of BMI was found for memory. Separate analysis by sex resulted in minor but significant differences.
BMI and blood glucose predicted cognitive performance after controlling for age and education, and thus their proper management should be taken into account for maintaining cognitive health in aging. Findings also demonstrate the importance of education and age in studies investigating cardiometabolic risk factors and cognitive function, as well as the need for further research on the effects of sex.
尽管代谢综合征（MetS）已被证明会增加认知能力下降的风险，但尚不清楚这种风险是与 MetS 整体相关，还是与它的个体因素相关。本研究旨在使用潜在变量模型探讨在一个地中海人群中，MetS 或其个体因素是否与老年人较低的认知功能相关。
分析了 640 名希腊塞浦路斯社区居住者（女性占 59.1%）的神经认知数据，年龄≥55 岁，整体健康状况良好。评估了人体测量、血压、空腹血糖、总胆固醇、低密度脂蛋白（LDL）和高密度脂蛋白（HDL）胆固醇和甘油三酯浓度，以研究 MetS 因素与语言、执行功能和语言情景记忆的认知语言结果之间的关系。
当将 MetS 因素建模为单个潜在变量时，它们对语言和执行功能有较小的负面影响。在控制年龄和教育程度后，这些影响不再显著。当将个体 MetS 因素与年龄和教育程度一起建模为预测因素时，年龄有中度负效应，而教育对所有三种认知结果都有很强的正效应。对于执行功能，发现体重指数（BMI）和血糖有较弱的显著负系数，而对于记忆，发现 BMI 有较弱的显著正效应。按性别进行单独分析，结果略有差异，但具有统计学意义。
在控制年龄和教育程度后，BMI 和血糖可以预测认知表现，因此，在衰老过程中保持认知健康，应考虑适当管理 BMI 和血糖。研究结果还表明，在研究心血管代谢风险因素和认知功能时，教育和年龄非常重要，并且需要进一步研究性别对认知的影响。
