O2‐01‐04: The relationship between physical activity and cognitive function in adults with cognitive impairment (original) (raw)

Alzheimer's & Dementia, 2012

Abstract

Background: Physical activity is a promising method to enhance neurocognitive function in healthy older adults, but the effects of physical activity on individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia remain poorly understood. Here we examined whether physical activity, objectively measured with an accelerometer, predicted cognitive status in both healthy and cognitively impaired (CI) older adults. Methods: Eighty-two older adults (mean age 1⁄4 74.9; 6 5.3 years) were recruited from a community sample that included both cognitively healthy and CI (MCI or dementia) adults. All participants completed a neuropsychological battery and were diagnosed based on clinical adjudication. In addition, each participant wore an armband accelerometer that objectively recorded physical activity. We examined the relationship between average daily physical activity and cognitive status using bootstrapped linear and logistic regression analyses. In order to examine the differential effects of physical activity by age, we stratified by the median age (74 years) for these analyses.Results: Fifty-six participants were cognitively normal and 26 participants were diagnosed with MCI or dementia (CI). The CI group was significantly older (78.0 vs. 73.4 years) and had a lower average body mass index (BMI; 26.7 vs. 28.9) than the cognitively normal group. Education level did not differ between groups. Lower average daily METs, a standardized measure of energy expenditure, predicted a CI diagnosis when controlling for BMI in the older age group (B 1⁄4 -5.24; p<.01). Neither BMI nor METs predicted CI in the younger age group (p’s>.1). A similar pattern was seen when predicting time on the Trail Making Test, both parts A and B, such that higher METs predicted faster time only for the older group. Conclusions: Our data demonstrates that obtaining multi-day objective measures of physical activity is feasible in neurologically healthy and cognitively impaired older adults. Based on these objective assessments, energy expenditurewas related to neurocognitive function only in the oldest participants. These data suggest that physical activity is related to cognitive ability in persons at highest risk for cognitive decline.

Salvi Shah hasn't uploaded this paper.

Let Salvi know you want this paper to be uploaded.

Ask for this paper to be uploaded.