Predictive ability of the physical performance test on cognitive frailty status and sarcopenia risk in Malaysian adult population

Abstract

Maintaining adequate physical performance is important in the management of many conditions, as well as the prevention of adverse health outcomes in older adults. There is limited information regarding the association of the physical performance (PP) test with cognitive frailty (CF) and sarcopenia risk. The aim of this study was to advance understanding of the predictive ability of the PP test on CF status and sarcopenia risk in Malaysian community-dwelling adult population. Secondary data from the MELoR at the baseline and AGELESS studies at seven years of follow-up were used. The study population comprised community-dwelling individuals aged 55 years and above identified from the electoral rolls of three neighbouring parliamentary constituencies using simple stratified sampling. At baseline, physical performance data of TUG, GS, FR and HGS were collected. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to explore the association. The cut-off values of the PP that discriminate older adults at risk of CF and Sarcopenia were also established. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) was conducted to decide the values. Four hundred and eighty-three participants (n=483) completed the seven-year follow-up, nine (n=9) of them were categorized in CF group, aged 70.11±8.59 years old, meanwhile one hundred and fifteen participants (n=115) were categorized in sarcopenic group aged 69.88±7.59 years old. The GS and TUG were significantly associated with CF (RR 1.98 [1.10;3.56] p-value<.001, and RR 0.65 [0.38;1.11], p-value <.005) and sarcopenia (RR 3.03 (1.72;5.33), RR 0.36 (0.20;0.64) p-value <.001) following seven years even after adjusting for age, gender, marital status, educational level, comorbidities, and baseline CF and SARC-F status. The TUG cutoff value of 11,5 seconds were demonstrated to best discriminate older adults with CF and sarcopenia (sensitivity; specificity 60.4%;62,4%, and 74.2%; 57.2% respectively) meanwhile the GS cut off value of 0.7 m/s was demonstrated to best discriminate older people with sarcopenia (79.2%;53%). The study findings suggest that TUG test cut-off values of 11.5 seconds could be used to predict CF and sarcopenia risk in Malaysian community-dwelling older adults.