The Relationship Between Functional fitness and Cognitive Function Decline in Older Adults : 10 years longitudinal study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine whether functional fitness predicts subsequent cognitive decline in community dwelling older adults. The subjects were 1094 (556 men and 538 women) adults aged 60 years or older who completed the baseline (2000-2002) and ten years later (2010-2012) examinations of the National Institute for Longevity Science-Longitudinal Study of Aging (NILS-LSA) in Japan. We examined associations at baseline and over a 10-year follow-up period between seven functional fitness measures: gait speed, step length, one leg standing, reaction time, leg extension power, grip strength and knee extension strength and mini-mental state examination (MMSE). Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine the relationships between functional fitness and cognitive function decline every two years. There was a significant association between the reaction time and risk of becoming decrease to 23 points of MMSE in both model Ⅰ and model Ⅱ of all waves in men and women for 10 years. Gait speed was related to decrease in the cognitive function from after six years (5th wave) in both men (OR, 0.72; CI, 0.53-0.95) and women (OR, 0.79; CI, 0.54-0.97). Leg extension power and grip strength of the physical function were associated with cognitive function decline from after six years it was found in men only. In the women case, it was showed after 10 years. Functional fitness was identified as factors that can predict the decrease in cognitive function. But it turned out that the functional fitness related to cognitive function decreases depending on the time and gender are different.