Study: High Cardiorespiratory Fitness Can Reduce Dementia Risk
High cardiorespiratory fitness can even reduce a genetic predisposition to dementia, according to a new study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine
A new study suggests that high cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is associated with better cognitive function and also reduces the risk of dementia, even mitigating genetic risk by as much as 35%.
The findings, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, analyzed data from the UK Biobank, a large-scale biomedical database. The study followed 61,214 UK residents aged 37 to 73 who were initially free of dementia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, and heart failure. Participants provided lifestyle and sociodemographic information, medical histories, and blood samples. They were monitored for up to 12 years.
As part of the study, participants were invited to complete a six-minute submaximal exercise test on a stationary bike while wearing an electrocardiographic monitor.
Ultimately, researchers found that high CRF led to better cognitive function when compared to low CRF. Over the follow-up period, 553 individuals developed dementia. The incidence rate ratio for all dementia was 0.60% for high CRF, and the onset of all dementia was delayed by 1.48 years among those with high CRF.
“Our findings suggest that maintaining favorable CRF could be a strategy for the prevention of dementia, even among people with a high genetic predisposition,” the authors wrote.
Although the study’s authors note that future research on the relationship between CRF and brain health (especially in older adults) deserves a further look, they suggest that CRF may become used as a routine health monitoring tool or an indicator of health conditions.
The authors also linked to studies indicating that aerobic training, resistance training, and combined training all have beneficial effects on CRF in older adults, with HIIT showing the most significant impact. Additionally, long-term moderate-intensity physical activity is as effective as a structured exercise program among previously sedentary healthy adults.
