Abstract
AimsDeterioration of physical fitness with advancing age is suggested to be one of the major causes for dementia. We examined whether 5‐mo interval walking training (IWT) improved cognitive function with increased physical fitness in elderly.MethodsResidents >40 years old in Yurihonjo participated in this study. They were randomly divided into the control (CNT) and IWT groups. Subjects in the CNT group were instructed to maintain their sedentary lifestyle while those in the IWT group were instructed to perform IWT, repeating ≥5 sets of fast and slow walking for 3 min each at ≥70% and 40% peak aerobic capacity for walking (VO2peak), respectively, per day ≥4 days/week for 5 months from June to November, 2016. Before and after the intervention, we measured VO2peak and cognitive function with Urakami‐style Screening Test. Since 36 subjects dropped out during the intervention and additionally 24 subjects lacked ≥1 of the measurements, we analyzed the remaining 175 subjects (CNT, n=88 and IWT, n=87). Moreover, since subjects who marked ≤12 points in cognitive function were clinically defined as mild cognitive impairment, they were used for further analyses (CNT, n=17 and IWT, n=18).ResultsAfter the intervention, VO2peak and cognitive function increased by 3.0±1.1% and 3.5±3.0% in the IWT group, more than −2.0±1.3% and −7.1±2.9% in the CNT group, respectively (both, P<0.01), and these effects were enhanced in the mild cognitive impairment subjects; 5.8±2.3% and 34.1±8.7% in the IWT group vs −0.4±2.3% and 11.8±12.3% in the CNT group, respectively, (both, P<0.05).ConclusionThe five‐month IWT improved cognitive function with increased VO2peak in elderly, especially in the mild cognitive impairment individuals.Support or Funding InformationThis study was supported by a grant from by the Cabinet Office of Japan to re‐activate local communities which would lose their activity due to advanced aging.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.
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