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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health and Nutrition
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1567372
This article is part of the Research Topic The Relationship between Nutrition and Frailty/Multimorbidity: Prevention and Clinical Nutritional Management View all 10 articles
Association of malnutrition with cognitive frailty in China: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Provisionally accepted- 1 Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu Province, China
- 2 Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, China
Background: With an aging population, China faces a growing burden of age-related health conditions, including cognitive frailty and malnutrition.This study aimed to investigate the current status of malnutrition in individuals with cognitive frailty in China and to assess the association between the two conditions.Methods: We conducted a comprehensive search of databases including PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Embase, Cochrane Library, CNKI, Wanfang, and Weipu up to April 26, 2024. Meta-analysis was performed using Stata/MP 16, with sensitivity and subgroup analyses to explore heterogeneity, and Begg’s and Egger’s tests to assess publication bias, applying the trim-and-fill method for correction. Results: Of 2,077 records, 19 were included. The pooled prevalence of cognitive frailty was 26% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.17–0.36, P<0.01), and the prevalence of malnutrition was 45% (95% CI: 0.30–0.58, P<0.01). A significant association was identified between cognitive frailty and malnutrition (odds ratio [OR]=4.23, 95% CI: 2.56–6.99, P<0.001), adjusted to OR=3.00 (95% CI: 1.87–4.80) post-correction.Conclusion: Malnutrition is prevalent among individuals with cognitive frailty in China. Given its higher prevalence in community settings than in hospitals, early screening and specific interventions are crucial to address this issue.
Keywords: cognitive frailty, Malnutrition, Older adult, China, Systematic review, Meta-analysis
Received: 27 Jan 2025; Accepted: 31 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhu, Xue, Huang, Zhang, Tu, Ling and Gu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Dongmei Gu, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, China
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