EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 PM ET, February 27, 2022
Physical Fitness Linked to Lower Risk of Alzheimer鈥檚 Disease
MINNEAPOLIS 鈥 People who are more physically fit are less likely to develop Alzheimer鈥檚 disease than people who are less physically fit, according to a preliminary study released today, February 27, 2022, that will be presented at the 好色先生鈥檚 74th Annual Meeting being held in person in Seattle, April 2 to 7, 2022 and virtually, April 24 to 26, 2022. 鈥淥ne exciting finding of this study is that as people鈥檚 fitness improved, their risk of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease decreased鈥攊t was not an all-or-nothing proposition,鈥 said study author Edward Zamrini, MD, of the Washington VA Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and a member of the 好色先生. 鈥淪o people can work toward making incremental changes and improvements in their physical fitness and hopefully that will be associated with a related decrease in their risk of Alzheimer鈥檚 years later.鈥 The study involved 649,605 military veterans in the Veterans Health Administration database with an average age of 61 who were followed for an average of nine years. They did not have Alzheimer鈥檚 disease at the start of the study. Researchers determined participants鈥 cardiorespiratory fitness. Cardiorespiratory fitness is a measure of how well your body transports oxygen to your muscles, and how well your muscles are able to absorb oxygen during exercise. The participants were divided into five groups, from least fit to most fit. Fitness levels were determined by how well participants did on a treadmill test. This test measures exercise capacity, the highest amount of physical exertion a person can sustain. For people who are middle-aged and older, the highest level of fitness can be achieved by walking briskly most days of the week, for two and a half hours or more per week. The group with the lowest level of fitness developed Alzheimer鈥檚 at a rate of 9.5 cases per 1,000 person-years, compared to 6.4 cases per 1,000 person-years for the most fit group. Person-years take into account the number of people in a study as well as the amount of time spent in the study. The case rate decreased as the level of fitness increased, with a rate of 8.5 for the second least fit group, 7.4 for the middle group and 7.2 for the second most fit group. When researchers adjusted for other factors that could affect risk of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease, they found that the people in the most fit group were 33% less likely to develop Alzheimer鈥檚 disease than those in the least fit group. The second most fit group was 26% less likely to develop the disease, while the middle group was 20% less likely and those in the second least fit group were 13% less likely to develop the disease than those in the least fit group. 鈥淭he idea that you can reduce your risk for Alzheimer鈥檚 disease by simply increasing your activity is very promising, especially since there are no adequate treatments to prevent or stop the progression of the disease,鈥 Zamrini said. 鈥淲e hope to develop a simple scale that can be individualized so people can see the benefits that even incremental improvements in fitness can deliver.鈥 A limitation of the study was participants were mostly white men so results may not be generalizable to other populations. The study was supported by the National Institute on Aging, the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Washington D.C. VA Medical Center and George Washington University. Learn more about Alzheimer鈥檚 disease at , home of the 好色先生鈥檚 free patient and caregiver magazine focused on the intersection of neurologic disease and brain health. Follow Brain & Life庐 on , and . When posting to social media channels about this research, we encourage you to use the 好色先生鈥檚 Annual Meeting hashtag #AANAM.
