Nutritional status, alcohol-tobacco consumption behaviour and cognitive decline among older adults in India

Abstract

Cognition capacity is essentially age-dependent and it is associated with the overall well-being of an individual. The public health aspects of cognitive research primarily focus on the possible delaying of cognitive decline among the older adult population. In this context, using the most recent round of the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India, 2017–2018 data, this study examines the cognition capacity among older adults aged 45 and above subject to their nutritional health and health behaviour (tobacco and alcohol consumption). It is observed that almost one in every tenth individual (10%) above 45 years of age in India shows low cognition scores. Low cognition is much more prevalent among 60 + females than males. Around one-fifth of the underweight older adults (18%) demonstrate low cognition capacity among them. Of those older adults who consume only tobacco, 11% of them demonstrate low cognition than the rest. The partial proportional odds model estimation shows that older adults are at higher risk of developing low cognition with increasing age and beyond age 65, the individuals carry a critically higher risk to experience low cognition. The estimation also shows that with increasing age older adults are higher likely to experience poor cognition independent of nutritional status, but underweight older adults are comparatively more likely to experience low cognition followed by normal and overweight older adults. In terms of alcohol-tobacco consumption behaviour, older adults who consume both are more likely to experience low cognition with increasing age followed by ‘only alcohol consumers’, and ‘only tobacco consumers’.

A study about the impact of indoor air pollution on cognitive function among middle-aged and older adult people in India

“…Our study explored that certain behavioural characteristics such as not having any reading habits, fair and poor self-rated health, insufficient eating habits, and not exercising physical activity stood out as remarkable risk factors for cognitive ailment in the presence of IAP. Tobacco consumption may be directly associated with cognitive impairment [ 50 ] but our study found it insignificant. The possible reason may be that only smoked tobacco consumption may escalate IAP [ 51 ] and this study considers both smoked and smokeless tobacco.…”

Gender-specific associations between sleep quality, sleep duration and cognitive functioning among older Indians: findings from WHO-SAGE study

“…Nutritional intake was significantly associated with cognitive functioning in this study, and should not be overlooked as an important factor for overall health and well-being. Adequate nutrition is essential for optimal cognitive function (Selvamani and Singh 2018;Khan 2022), and it may interact with sleep patterns and quality to influence cognitive outcomes indirectly. Future research should explore the complex interplay between sleep, nutritional intake, and cognitive functioning to gain a more comprehensive understanding of their combined effects.…”