Associations between cognitive function and lifestyle factors in healthy Japanese middle-aged and older adults: A cross-sectional study

The objective of this study is to comprehensively investigate associations between cognitive function and lifestyle factors. We analyzed data from a cross-sectional study of Japanese adults that included over 1,800 variables (e.g., physical characteristics, body composition, and lifestyle habits) and cognitive function assessed using CNS Vital Signs. For participants aged 40 years or older ( n = 710), we performed partial correlation analysis and analysis of covariance adjusted for age, sex, and years of education. Given the large number of variables, we controlled the false discovery rate within predefined data type families (real, positive, ordered categorical, categorical) using the Benjamini–Hochberg procedure; p -values were adjusted to q -values, and, for exploratory purposes, variables with q -values < 0.1 were identified. In total, 28 variables met this criterion, with particularly prominent associations for gait characteristics, vascular function, grip strength, and oral conditions, whereas blood components and other general biomarkers did not meet the threshold. These findings suggest that monitoring of identified lifestyle and physiological factors may help facilitate early detection of cognitive decline.