TY - JOUR
T1 - Fitness and cognition in the elderly
T2 - The Austrian Stroke Prevention Study
AU - Freudenberger, Paul
AU - Petrovic, Katja
AU - Sen, Abhijit
AU - Töglhofer, Anna Maria
AU - Fixa, André
AU - Hofer, Edith
AU - Perl, Sabine
AU - Zweiker, Robert
AU - Seshadri, Sudha
AU - Schmidt, Reinhold
AU - Schmidt, Helena
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank the Medical University of Graz employees Birgit Reinhart for recruitment of the participants and Johann Semmler, Irmgard Poelzl, Elfi Hofer, and Anita Harb for their technical assistance at creating the DNA bank. The study was funded by the PhD Program Neurosciences of the Medical University of Graz, by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) grant P20545-B05, by the Austrian National Bank (Anniversary Fund, project 15435), and the Country of Styria "Science and Research Fund" to Helena Schmidt. Dr. Seshadri was partially funded by grants from the National Institute on Aging (R01 AG047645, AG031287).
PY - 2016/2/2
Y1 - 2016/2/2
N2 - Objective: To investigate whether greater cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with better global and domain-specific cognitive function. Methods: We investigated 877 participants (aged 65 ± 7 years, 55% women) of the Austrian Stroke Prevention Study. For cardiorespiratory fitness, the maximum oxygen consumption (Vo2max) was calculated based on weight and maximum and resting heart rate on a treadmill test (mL·kg-1·min-1). A test battery assessing memory (Bäumler's Lern-und Gedächtnistest), executive function (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Trail Making Test-Part B, Digit Span Backward, Alters Konzentrationstest, a computerized complex reaction time task) and motor skills (Purdue Pegboard Test) was administered. Summary measures for cognitive domains and for global cognition were calculated. White matter lesions, lacunes, and brain atrophy were assessed using MRI. Results: Higher Vo2max was associated with better global (B = 0.024; p = 0.000) and domain-specific cognitive function (memory B = 0.026, p = 0.000; executive function B = 0.009, p = 0.003; motor skills B = 0.012, p = 0.018) after adjustment for age, sex, education years, and Ca2+ channel antagonists or β-blockers. White matter lesions, lacunes, or brain atrophy did not mediate the effect (p > 0.05 for all mediators). The interactions of Vo2max with age, overweight, and APOE ε4 on cognition were not statistically significant (p > 0.05 for all interaction terms) with the exception of a modulating effect of body mass index on Vo2max in the memory domain. Conclusions: Higher Vo2max is associated with better global cognitive function and with better performance in the cognitive domains of memory, executive function, and motor skills in the middle-aged and elderly. The association is not mediated by the presence of white matter lesions, lacunes, and brain atrophy.
AB - Objective: To investigate whether greater cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with better global and domain-specific cognitive function. Methods: We investigated 877 participants (aged 65 ± 7 years, 55% women) of the Austrian Stroke Prevention Study. For cardiorespiratory fitness, the maximum oxygen consumption (Vo2max) was calculated based on weight and maximum and resting heart rate on a treadmill test (mL·kg-1·min-1). A test battery assessing memory (Bäumler's Lern-und Gedächtnistest), executive function (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Trail Making Test-Part B, Digit Span Backward, Alters Konzentrationstest, a computerized complex reaction time task) and motor skills (Purdue Pegboard Test) was administered. Summary measures for cognitive domains and for global cognition were calculated. White matter lesions, lacunes, and brain atrophy were assessed using MRI. Results: Higher Vo2max was associated with better global (B = 0.024; p = 0.000) and domain-specific cognitive function (memory B = 0.026, p = 0.000; executive function B = 0.009, p = 0.003; motor skills B = 0.012, p = 0.018) after adjustment for age, sex, education years, and Ca2+ channel antagonists or β-blockers. White matter lesions, lacunes, or brain atrophy did not mediate the effect (p > 0.05 for all mediators). The interactions of Vo2max with age, overweight, and APOE ε4 on cognition were not statistically significant (p > 0.05 for all interaction terms) with the exception of a modulating effect of body mass index on Vo2max in the memory domain. Conclusions: Higher Vo2max is associated with better global cognitive function and with better performance in the cognitive domains of memory, executive function, and motor skills in the middle-aged and elderly. The association is not mediated by the presence of white matter lesions, lacunes, and brain atrophy.
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U2 - 10.1212/WNL.0000000000002329
DO - 10.1212/WNL.0000000000002329
M3 - Article
C2 - 26740674
AN - SCOPUS:84957555133
VL - 86
SP - 418
EP - 424
JO - Neurology
JF - Neurology
SN - 0028-3878
IS - 5
ER -