ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Clinical Nutrition
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1589898
Association of a modified body shape index with cognitive impairment in middle-aged and elderly Chinese adults: a crosssectional analysis from CHARLS
Provisionally accepted
- Qilu Hospital (Qingdao), Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Qingdao, China
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Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the association between A Body Shape Index (ABSI) and cognitive impairment in middle-aged and elderly Chinese adults.: We analyzed baseline data from the 2011 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), including 6,762 participants aged ≥ 45 years. The modified ABSI of adults in China was calculated using waist circumference (WC), body mass index (BMI), and height. Cognitive function was assessed through episodic memory and cognitive status tests, with impairment defined as a composite score ≤ 11. Multivariate logistic regression, fitted smoothing curves, and subgroup analysis were employed to evaluate the associations and interactions. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to compare the diagnostic performance of ABSI, BMI, and WC. Results: After full adjustment, each 0.01-unit ABSI increase conferred a 45.7% higher risk of cognitive impairment (odds ratio [OR] = 1.457). Participants in the highest ABSI quartile had a 48.3% higher risk compared to the lowest quartile (p for trend < 0.001). Dose-response analysis revealed a positive relationship (p < 0.001) between ABSI and cognitive impairment. ABSI demonstrated superior diagnostic accuracy (Area Under the Curve [AUC] = 0.603) compared to BMI (AUC = 0.570) and WC (AUC = 0.548).Elevated ABSI independently predicts cognitive impairment in Chinese middle-aged and older adults. ABSI demonstrates better diagnostic accuracy compared to BMI and WC. These findings highlight ABSI's utility as a cost-effective anthropometric tool for cognitive risk stratification in aging populations.
Keywords: A Body Shape Index, ABSi, cognitive impairment, CHARLS, Cross-seccional study
Received: 08 Mar 2025; Accepted: 21 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Xu, 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: Jianyuan Zhang, Qilu Hospital (Qingdao), Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Qingdao, China
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