Factors on malnutrition in patients with Alzheimer′s disease-related cognitive impairment: a preliminary analysis / 中华神经科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the factors on malnutrition or risk of malnutrition in patients with Alzheimer′s disease (AD)-related cognitive impairment,and to further analyze the association between the severity of behavioral and psychological symptoms in dementia (BPSD) and nutritional status.Methods:The clinical data of 247 patients with AD-related cognitive impairment were collected continuously from the Chinese Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle Study of Alzheimer′s Disease (CIBL) cohort between June 1, 2021 and August 31, 2022. The patients were divided into well-nourished group ( n=128) and malnourished group ( n=119) according to the scores of Mini-Nutritional Assessment scale (MNA). The sociodemographic data (sex, age, body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, education level), the medical history of olfactory dysfunction, combination with more than two chronic diseases, and gastrointestinal diseases, presenting BPSD, and the scores of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI), Activity of Daily Living (ADL), Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI) and Dietary Diversity Score (DDS) were compared between the two groups. The factors with statistically significant differences in hypothesis test and univariate Logistic regression analysis were enrolled in multivariate Logistic regression analysis to further identify independent factors associated with malnutrition in patients with AD-related cognitive impairment. Furthermore, the association between NPI scores and MNA scores was analyzed by Spearman′s rank correlation test. Results:Compared with those in the well-nourished group, patients in the malnourished group had higher age [(66.70±7.01) years vs (69.14±8.87) years, t=-2.39, P=0.018], lower body mass index [(24.68±2.84) kg/m 2vs (22.69±3.63) kg/m 2, t=4.78, P<0.001], and higher proportion of presenting BPSD [22.66% (29/128) vs 76.47% (91/119), χ 2=71.49, P<0.001]; lower scores of MMSE, MoCA, and DDS [24.27±4.69 vs 18.95±8.40, t=6.09; 20.29±5.18 vs 14.55±8.12, t=6.56; 8.00 (8.00, 9.00) vs 8.00 (7.00, 8.00), Z=-4.66; all P<0.001], and higher scores of NPI, ADL and CBI [1.00 (0, 6.00) vs 10.00 (2.00, 25.00), Z=-6.50; 20.00 (20.00, 22.00) vs 27.00 (20.00, 40.00), Z=-7.08; 1.00 (0, 14.75) vs 12.00 (2.00, 35.00), Z=-5.13; all P<0.001]. There were no statistically significant differences in the sex, waist-to-hip ratio, education level, and the medical history of olfactory dysfunction, combination with more than two chronic diseases, and gastrointestinal diseases between the two groups. The multiple Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that the decreased body mass index ( OR=0.79, 95% CI 0.70-0.89, P<0.001), presenting BPSD ( OR=7.84, 95% CI 3.67-16.73, P<0.001), elevated ADL scores ( OR=1.15, 95% CI 1.06-1.24, P<0.001) and CBI scores ( OR=0.98, 95% CI 0.97-1.00, P=0.026), and decreased scores of DDS ( OR=0.66, 95% CI 0.51-0.84, P=0.001) were independently associated with malnutrition in patients with AD-related cognitive impairment. The MNA scores were significantly negatively associated with NPI scores ( r=-0.483,95% CI -0.58--0.38, P<0.001). Conclusions:The decreased body mass index, dietary diversity, and ability of daily living, and presenting BPSD and heavy burden of caregivers can independently contribute to the malnutrition in patients with AD-related cognitive impairment. The more serious the BPSD, the worse the nutritional status.