Research of Influencing Factors for Physical Impairment Combined with Cognitive Impairment in the Elderly

Background In recent years, physical impairment (PI) combined with cognitive impairment (CI) is a common comorbidity in the elderly. An early detection of PI combined with CI in the elderly and timely interventions may help to improve the quality of life of the elderly and reduce the burden on their families and society. However, relevant studies on the comorbidity of PI and CI in the elderly and its influencing factors have been rarely reported. Objective To observe the clinical characteristics of the comorbidity of PI and CI in the elderly and the influencing factors. Methods Elderly patients hospitalized in Peking University People's Hospital from September 2018 to November 2019 were selected. A total of eligible 244 subjects meeting the inclusion criteria were surveyed for the physical function and cognitive function using the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) and the Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE), respectively. PI was diagnosed with lower than 10 points of the SPPB, and CI was diagnosed with lower than 27 points of the MMSE. Patients were divided into non-PI+non-CI, PI+non-CI, non-PI+CI, PI+CI. Social demographic, anthropometric, laboratory examination and other indicators of patients were collected, and Logistic regression analysis was used to explore the influencing factors for PI combined with CI in the elderly. Results Among the 244 patients, there were 102 (41.80%), 64 (26.23%), 26 (10.66%) and 52 (21.31%) cases of non-PI+non-CI, PI+non-CI, non-PI+CI and PI+CI, respectively. Multivariate binary Logistic regression analysis showed that compared with non-PI+non-CI cases, age (P<0.001, OR=1.216, 95%CI=1.217-1.312) and grip strength (P<0.001, OR=0.875, 95%CI=0.813-0.941) were independent influencing factors for PI+CI cases. Compared with PI+non-CI cases, fatty liver disease (P=0.007, OR=0.200, 95%CI=0.062-0.646), hypertension (P=0.007, OR=3.596, 95%CI=1.414-9.143), and grip strength (P=0.038, OR=0.943, 95%CI=0.891-0.997) were independent influencing factors for PI+CI cases. Compared with non-PI+CI cases, age (P=0.008, OR=1.104, 95%CI=1.026-1.189) and grip strength (P=0.004, OR=0.889, 95%CI=0.821-0.963) were independent influencing factors for PI+CI cases. Conclusion Grip strength is the independent influencing factor for PI combined with CI in the elderly. Among the elderly patients without PI and CI, age and grip strength were the influencing factors of PI and CI. In elderly patients with PI and no CI, fatty liver, hypertension and grip strength were the influencing factors of PI and CI.