Alzheimer & Demantia Huashan Yujintai: It is not easy to get Alzheimer's disease if you have strong grip strength and walk fast!

There is an association between
age-related muscle deterioration and cognitive dysfunction.
Studies have found that grip strength and walking speed (indicators of muscle health use) are associated
with impairment in several cognitive domains in older adults.
However, the limitations of the studies due to methodological quality, sample size, and age-orientation are still insufficient to draw definitive conclusions
.

To this end, Yu Jintai's team from Huashan Hospital of Fudan University analyzed 340212 UK biobank participants who did not have dementia and cardiovascular disease at baseline according to the UK Biodatabase (UKB) to fully evaluate the association
between grip strength and walking speed and cognitive dysfunction.
Disease outcomes studied included all-cause dementia (ACD) and two major subtypes, Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD).

The results showed that 2424 dementia events
were recorded at a mean follow-up of 8.
51±2.
68 years.
Every 5 kg increase in absolute grip strength was associated
with a 15%, 12% and 22% reduction in the risk of all-cause dementia (hazard ratio [HR] 0.
857), Alzheimer's disease (HR 0.
874), and vascular dementia (HR 0.
788), respectively.
When grip strength is expressed as relative values and quintiles, the pattern of association remains similar
.
At the same time, slow walking speed (< 3 mph) was associated with an increased risk of all dementia types, especially in VaD
, compared to average walking speed (3-4 mph).

Taken together, the findings provide additional evidence and suggest that muscle health reflected by objective grip strength measurements and self-reported walking speed may be crucial
for estimating the risk of dementia.

References:

Associations of grip strength, walking pace, and the risk of incident dementia: A prospective cohort study of 340212 participants.
https://doi.
org/10.
1002/alz.
12793