High-intensity walking in midlife is associated with improved memory in physically capable older adults

Background Little is known about the associations of midlife- and late life-initiated walking with Alzheimer's disease (AD)-related cognitive decline in humans. We aimed to investigate whether high-intensity, prolonged, midlife-initiated walking is associated with changes in AD-related cognitiv...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Alzheimer's research & therapy 2023-08, Vol.15 (1), p.1-143, Article 143
Main Authors: Choe, Young Min, Suh, Guk-Hee, Lee, Boung Chul, Choi, Ihn-Geun, Kim, Hyun Soo, Kim, Jong Wan, Hwang, Jaeuk, Yi, Dahyun, Kim, Jee Wook
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Alzheimer's disease
Body mass index
Cardiovascular disease
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive ability
Cohort analysis
Complications and side effects
Dementia
Diagnosis
Exercise
Health aspects
Intensity
Interviews
Lifestyles
Memory
Middle age
Midlife-initiated
Neuropsychology
Older people
Physical fitness
Psychological aspects
Walking
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Background Little is known about the associations of midlife- and late life-initiated walking with Alzheimer's disease (AD)-related cognitive decline in humans. We aimed to investigate whether high-intensity, prolonged, midlife-initiated walking is associated with changes in AD-related cognitive decline in physically capable older adults. Methods We studied 188 physically capable participants aged 65-90 years without dementia who underwent comprehensive clinical assessment, including of their walking modality (i.e., intensity, duration, midlife- or late life-onset), memory- or non-memory and total cognitive performance, and blood or nutritional biomarkers. Results The walking group showed better episodic memory (B = 2.852, SE = 1.214, [beta] = 0.144, p = 0.020), but not non-memory cognition, than the non-walking group. High-intensity walking starting in midlife was significantly associated with better episodic memory (B = 9.360, SE = 3.314, [beta] = 0.446, p = 0.005) compared to the non-walking group. In contrast, there were no differences in cognition according to walking duration, regardless of the onset time. The walking group also showed a similar association with overall cognition. Conclusions Among physically capable older adults without dementia, walking, particularly at high intensity and starting in midlife, is associated with improved episodic memory, an AD-related cognitive domain. Further attention should be paid to the role of walking in terms of AD prevention. Keywords: Walking, Memory, Alzheimer's disease, Intensity, Midlife-initiated
ISSN:1758-9193
1758-9193
DOI:10.1186/s13195-023-01293-8