Association between cognitive commitment and calf circumference in elderly: a cross-cutting study

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Cognitive impairment is correlated with left calf circumference (LCC) which corresponds to an indirect marker of sarcopenia. LCC is a simple and quick measure to be collected in outpatient clinics. However, the magnitude of this correlation seems to be different between the different degrees of frailty in the elderly. OBJECTIVE: Verify the correlation between LCC and cognitive impairment at different levels of frailty in the elderly. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cross-sectional study with secondary data from medical records of elderly people diagnosed with dementia registered at the State Reference Center for Health Care for the Elderly (CREASI). Data were collected from the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the left calf circumference (LCC) obtained from the comprehensive geriatric assessment carried out on admission of the elderly to CREASI. The elderly's sociodemographic data were recorded to characterize the sample, divided according to gender and degree of frailty. In each group, Pearson's test was applied to verify the correlation between MMSE and LCC considering p value of 0.05. RESULTS: 470 medical records were evaluated, 342 women and 128 men. The frail elderly showed a weak correlation between the sexes. CONCLUSION: Cognitive impairment and LCC are only weakly correlated in frail older adults. Gender did not modify the correlation between cognitive impairment and LCC.