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

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'.

Automated summary

This study utilizes data from India's Longitudinal Aging Study in 2017-2018 to examine the cognition capacity of older adults aged 45 and above. The findings suggest that older age is associated with a higher risk of low cognition, particularly among those aged 65 and above. Underweight older adults are also more likely to experience low cognition. Furthermore, older adults who consume both alcohol and tobacco are more prone to low cognition with increasing age.