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Serum Copper and Zinc Concentrations and Cognitive Impairment in Older Adults Aged 60 Years and Older

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Abstract

Epidemiological evidence on serum zinc and copper and cognitive impairment in older adults are not consistent. Results on serum zinc and copper and cognitive impairment in older adults from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) have not been reported. Data on serum zinc and copper and cognitive impairment from individuals ≥ 60 years of age were obtained from the 2011–2014 NHANES. Serum zinc and copper concentrations were determined with inductively coupled plasma dynamic reaction cell mass spectrometry. Cognitive impairment was assessed with four cognitive tests: the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST), the Animal Fluency (AF), the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s Disease Delayed Recall (CERAD-DR), and the Word Learning (CERAD-WL) tests. Compared with the lowest tertile of serum copper, the multivariate-adjusted odds ratios of scoring low on the AF were 0.86 (0.44–1.68) in tertile 2 and 0.46 (0.25–0.82) in tertile 3, and the inverse association was also found in women. No association was found between serum copper and the DSST, CERAD-DR, and CRAD-WL, respectively. Compared with the lowest tertile of serum zinc, the multivariate-adjusted odds ratios of scoring low on the DSST were 0.83 (0.37–1.90) in tertile 2 and 0.42 (0.22–0.80) in tertile 3, and the inverse association was also found in men. No association was found between serum zinc and the AF, CERAD-DR, and CRAD-WL, respectively. In conclusion, serum copper and zinc were associated with certain cognitive performance tests among older adults, and the causality deserves to be confirmed further.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available in the NHANES: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/.

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Funding

The research leading to these results received funding from Kunshan Special Fund for Social Development and Science & Technology (No.KS1545).

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Author notes

  1. Zonglin Gong, Wenlei Song and Minjun Gu contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Integrated Services, Kunshan Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Kunshan, 215300, Jiangsu, China

    Zonglin Gong

  2. Department of Disease Control, Kunshan Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Kunshan, 215300, Jiangsu, China

    Wenlei Song & Minjun Gu

  3. Department of Tuberculosis Control, Kunshan Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, No.458, West Tongfeng Road, Kunshan, 215300, Jiangsu, China

    Wenlei Song

Authors
  1. Zonglin Gong
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  2. Wenlei Song
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  3. Minjun Gu
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Contributions

Wenlei Song: conceptualization and data curation; Zonglin Gong: formal analysis, investigation, methodology, resources, and software; Zonglin Gong and Minjun Gu: roles/writing—original draft; Wenlei Song: writing—review and editing and supervision.

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Correspondence to Wenlei Song.

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The NHANES was approved by the NCHS Research Ethics Review Board.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Gong, Z., Song, W. & Gu, M. Serum Copper and Zinc Concentrations and Cognitive Impairment in Older Adults Aged 60 Years and Older. Biol Trace Elem Res 200, 1495–1501 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-021-02765-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-021-02765-4

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