Scientific publications
Dietary Iron, Anemia Markers, Cognition, and Quality of Life in Older Community-Dwelling Subjects at High Cardiovascular Risk. Scientific Publication
Carolina Donat-Vargas 1 2 , Víctor Mico 3 , Rodrigo San-Cristobal 3 , Miguel Ángel Martínez-González 4 5 6 , Jordi Salas-Salvadó 7 8 9 , Dolores Corella 4 9 , Montserrat Fitó 4 10 , Ángel Maria Alonso-Gómez 4 11 , Julia Wärnberg 4 12 , Jesús Vioque 2 13 , Dora Romaguera 4 14 , José López-Miranda 4 15 , Ramon Estruch 4 16 , Miguel Damas-Fuentes 4 17 , José Lapetra 4 18 , Luís Serra-Majem 4 19 , Aurora Bueno-Cavanillas 2 20 , Josep Antoni Tur 4 14 21 , Sergio Cinza-Sanjurjo 22 23 24 , Xavier Pintó 4 25 , Miguel Delgado-Rodríguez 3 26 , Pilar Matía-Martín 27 , Josep Vidal 28 29 , Claudia Causso 30 , Emilio Ros 4 31 , Estefanía Toledo 4 5 , Josep Maria Manzanares 7 , Carolina Ortega-Azorín 4 9 , Olga Castañer 10 , Patricia Judith Peña-Orihuela 4 15 , Juan Manuel Zazo 32 , Carlos Muñoz Bravo 33 , Diego Martinez-Urbistondo 34 , Alice Chaplin 4 14 , Rosa Casas 4 16 , Naomi Cano Ibáñez 2 20 35 , Lucas Tojal-Sierra 4 11 , Ana María Gómez-Perez 4 17 , Elena Pascual Roquet-Jalmar 36 , Cristina Mestre 4 7 8 , Rocío Barragán 4 9 , Helmut Schröder 2 10 , Antonio Garcia-Rios 4 15 , Inmaculada Candela García 37 , Miguel Ruiz-Canela 4 5 , Nancy Babio 4 7 8 , Mireia Malcampo 10 , Lidia Daimiel 38 , Alfredo Martínez 3 4 39
Abstract
Anemia causes hypo-oxygenation in the brain, which could lead to cognitive disorders. We examined dietary iron intake as well as anemia markers (i.e., hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean corpuscular volume) and diabetes coexistence in relation to neuropsychological function and quality of life. In this study, 6117 community-dwelling adults aged 55-75 years (men) and 60-75 years (women) with overweight/obesity and metabolic syndrome were involved.
We performed the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Trail Making Test parts A and B (TMT-A/B), Semantic Verbal Fluency of animals (VFT-a), Phonological Verbal Fluency of letter P (VFT-p), Digit Span Test (DST), the Clock Drawing Test (CDT), and the Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF36-HRQL test). Dietary iron intake did not influence neuropsychological function or quality of life.
However, anemia and lower levels of anemia markers were associated with worse scores in all neurophysiological and SF36-HRQL tests overall, but were especially clear in the MMSE, TMT-B (cognitive flexibility), and the physical component of the SF36-HRQL test.
The relationships between anemia and diminished performance in the TMT-A/B and VFT tasks were notably pronounced and statistically significant solely among participants with diabetes. In brief, anemia and reduced levels of anemia markers were linked to inferior cognitive function, worse scores in different domains of executive function, as well as a poorer physical, but not mental, component of quality of life
It was also suggested that the coexistence of diabetes in anemic patients may exacerbate this negative impact on cognition. Nevertheless, dietary iron intake showed no correlation with any of the outcomes. To make conclusive recommendations for clinical practice, our findings need to be thoroughly tested through methodologically rigorous studies that minimize the risk of reverse causality.
CITATION Nutrients. 2023 Oct 19;15(20):4440. doi: 10.3390/nu15204440
Our authors
