Faster walking pace and higher handgrip strength are associated with lowest risk of new-onset dementia, finds a study published in AlzheimersRes.
Each participant’s person-years were calculated from the date of attending the assessment center to the date reported for diagnosis of new-onset dementia events, death, loss to follow-up, or end of the follow-up, whichever occurred first.Baseline characteristics were presented as mean for continuous variables or proportions for categorical variables by walking pace and sex-specific quartiles of handgrip strength.
Basic demographic variables and variables known as traditional or suspected risk factors for dementia were selected as covariates.
We combined walking pace and handgrip strength into a category variable: group 1, slow walking pace and grip strength in the first quartile; group 2, slow walking pace and grip strength in the 2–4 quartiles; group 3, average or brisk walking pace and grip strength in the first quartile; group 4, average or brisk walking pace and grip strength in the 2–4 quartiles.
To evaluate the interactions between walking pace and age, APOE ε4 dosage, handgrip strength, or other confounding factors , multiplicative interactions were assessed by adding an interaction term to the Cox proportional hazards model.