Long-Term Dementia Risk Linked to Cardiorespiratory Fitness in New Study

Higher cardiorespiratory fitness may be linked to a lower long-term risk of developing dementia, according to data published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. The results suggest that better cardiorespiratory fitness, as measured by exercise performance on a stationary bicycle, may mitigate the impact of genetic predisposition to dementia by 35%.

The study included 61,214 participants from the UK Biobank aged 39 to 70 years who were dementia-free at baseline. Cardiorespiratory fitness scores were evaluated at baseline based on a 6-minute submaximal exercise test using a stationary bicycle, with participants divided into low, moderate, or high cardiovascular fitness groups based on their performance. At baseline, participants’ genetic predisposition for dementia was assessed via polygenic risk score for Alzheimer disease (AD), and global cognitive function was measured. Participants were monitored for 12 years of follow-up, with researchers evaluating dementia onset based on medical records and history.

• People in the high cardiorespiratory fitness group had better global cognitive function at baseline compared with the low cardiorespiratory fitness group (β=0.05; 95% CI, .04 to .07).
• 553 participants developed dementia over the 12-year follow-up period.
• Compared with the low cardiorespiratory fitness group, participants in the high cardiorespiratory fitness group had an incidence rate ratio (IRR) for all dementia of 0.60 (95% CI, .48 to .76) and a delayed onset for all dementia of 1.48 years (95% CI, .58 to 2.39).
• For participants with a moderate or high polygenic risk score for AD, having high cardiorespiratory fitness was associated with a 35% attenuated risk of all dementia (IRR, .65; 95% CI, .52 to .83).