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Topical Area: Nutritional Epidemiology

Nutritional Epidemiology (II) (Poster Session)

(P29-045-23) Gardening and Subjective Cognitive Decline: A Cross-Sectional Study and Mediation Analyses of 137,380 Adults Aged 45+ Y

Monday, July 24, 2023
12:45 PM – 1:45 PM ET
Location: Poster Board 170

    Presenting Author(s)

  • KW

    Kaiyue Wang, MSc

    Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Institute of Nutrition, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
    Shanghai, Shanghai, China (People's Republic)

    • Co-Author(s)

  • XC

    Xiao Chen

    Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Institute of Nutrition, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

  • Susan Veldheer, DEd, RD

    Assistant Professor
    Departments of Family and Community Medicine and Public Health Sciences, Penn State College of Medicine
    Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States

  • HW

    Han Wang

    Department of Neurology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China

  • YL

    Yaqi Li (she/her/hers)

    Assistant professor
    Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Institute of Nutrition, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
    Shanghai, Shanghai, China (People's Republic)

  • LS

    Liang Sun

    Fudan University

  • XG

    Xiang Gao

    Fudan University

Disclosure(s):
Yaqi Li: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.


Objectives: Given the benefits of gardening for physical and psychological health, we explored whether gardening was associated with lower risks of subjective cognitive decline (SCD), a precursor of dementia, and SCD-related functional limitations.

Methods: Included in this cross-sectional study were 137,380 participants aged 45+ years old from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System 2019 survey, who were then categorized into three groups according to self-report exercise status: non-exercisers, gardeners, and exercisers. SCD was assessed via a questionnaire, and SCD-related functional limitations were referred to as having difficulties in engaging in household or social activities due to SCD. The prevalence ratio (PR) and 95% confident interval (CI) were calculated to assess the associations of gardening with SCD and SCD-related functional limitations, adjusted for age, sex, socioeconomic status, life-style factors, and health status. Mediation analyses were conducted to examine whether the observed association between gardening and SCD was mediated by energy expenditure (MET-hours/week), depression status, and consumptions of fruits and vegetables.

Results: Overall, 11.1% and 5.4% of participants self-reported experiencing SCD and SCD-related functional limitations, respectively. The adjusted PR for gardeners vs non-exercisers, was 0.75 (95% CI 0.70-0.79) for SCD and 0.53 (95% CI 0.47-0.59) for SCD-related functional limitations. The observed association between gardening and SCD was explained by higher energy expenditure (41.8%), lower likelihood of having depression (20.9%), and higher consumptions of fruits and vegetables (3.0%) (P＜0.05 for all). Similar patterns were observed for SCD-related functional limitations.

Conclusions: In this nationally representative sample, gardening was associated with better cognitive status, which may be mainly attributed to better depression status and energy expenditure.

Funding Sources: This study was supported by the Startup grant at Fudan University JIF201018Y and JIF201015Y.