ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Aging Neurosci.
Sec. Neurocognitive Aging and Behavior
Volume 17 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2025.1473135
This article is part of the Research TopicMental, Sensory, Physical and Life Style Parameters Related to Cognitive Decline in AgingView all 23 articles
Non-linear Relationship between Calf Circumference and Global Cognition in Chinese Population ：A Cross-Sectional Study of 12,102 Chinese Older Adults
Provisionally accepted
- Gansu Provincial Hospital, Lanzhou, China
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Background: Limited evidence exists regarding the relationship between calf circumference (CC) and global cognition in the Chinese population, with minimal research exploring potential sex disparities.Our goal was to investigate the correlation between CC and global cognition using data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS), focusing specifically on sex variations.The study participants were older adults who participated in the 2018 CLHLS survey. In this cross-sectional study, we employed multiple linear regression to examine the association between CC and global cognition. Smoothed curve fitting was used to explore the nonlinear association between CC and global cognition. Furthermore, subgroup analyses were conducted to evaluate the reliability of the correlation between CC and global cognitive performance.Result: In total, 12,102 older adults were included in the study. A positive correlation was found between global cognition and CC (β=0.42, 95% CI= 0.3-0.54, P<0.001) after controlling for confounding factors. Further analysis revealed a nonlinear relationship between CC and global cognitive performance. In the overall population, the inflection point for CC was 31 cm; a positive relationship was observed between CC and global cognition for CC values ＜ 31 cm (β = 0.177, 95% CI = 0.128-0.225, P<0.001) ; however, this relationship disappeared for CC values ≥ 31 cm (β: -0.009, 95% CI = -0.04-0.023, P = 0.591). Furthermore, we identified sex-specific variations in the correlation between global cognitive performance and CC. Notably, among women with CC values ＜32 cm, a significant positive correlation was observed between CC and overall cognitive function. Conversely, for women with CC ≥ 32 cm, no significant association was found between CC and cognitive performance. Interestingly, no nonlinear relationship was detected in males. Conclusion: This study demonstrated a nonlinear relationship between CC and global cognition in older Chinese population. Furthermore, sex disparities are observed in the relationship between CC and global cognition, with a nonlinear link evident in women but not in men. Older women with lower CC should actively participate in physical activity to maintain an appropriate CC and prevent cognitive decline.
Keywords: Calf circumference, Global cognition, non-linear relationship, sex difference, CLHLS
Received: 30 Jul 2024; Accepted: 28 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Nie, Gu, Wu, Gao, Zhang and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yamin Zhang, Gansu Provincial Hospital, Lanzhou, China
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