PHYSICAL ACTIVITY ASSOCIATED TO LOWER PREVALENCE OF DEMENTIA IN ELDERLY SUBJECTS Ricardo Barcelos-Ferreira, Marcos Antônio Loes, Cássio Machado de Camos Bottino. BACKGROUND Longitudinal studies have found that some lifestyle could imact the risk of dementia including Alzheimer s disease. There are considerable evidences indicating that hysically active older individuals maintain healthy functioning longer than do sedentary eers. In site of this, the effect of hysical activity on the relationshi between age and risk of dementia is unknown. OBJECTIVES This is a two-hase study that aims to investigate the association of hysical exercise and age with the revalence of dementia in a samle of community elderly subjects, from Ribeirao Preto city, state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. METHODS A cross-sectional study of a randomized community-based samle of 928 elderly subjects aged 60 years or older was erformed. Standardized instruments for screening dementia and a socio-economic questionnaire were alied to the subjects at home (hase I). The dementia diagnose was made at hosital in a second wave (hase II) according to DSM-IV criteria. In site of this, the effect of hysical activity on the relationshi between age and risk of dementia is unknown? RESULTS The overall revalence of dementia was 5.9%. The most frequent dementia was Alzheimer s disease (2.6%), followed by Vascular dementia (1.1%), and Mixed dementia (1.0%). The initial multivariate analysis indicated sociodemograhic factors associated to dementia. After adjusting for all the variables, the multivariate analysis showed an association with the age grou 80 (OR=6.7; <0.001); household chores comared with qualified worker (OR=2.7; =0.004); no emloyment (OR=4.3; <0.001); and stroke (OR=4.5; =0.001). There was no association with gender, socioeconomic class, educational level, alcohol, smoking, and religion. In a secondary analysis, there was an inverse relationshi between hysical activity and age. After deliberately exclude age, the final model showed a significant association between higher rates of dementia and lack of hysical activity (OR=2.0; =0.024). CONCLUSIONS In our samle, lack of hysical exercise was associated to 2 fold higher risk of dementia, only after exclude age bracket of the analysis, erhas due to decreasing level of hysical activity while eole age. In site of this, our data reinforce the idea that relatively simle lifestyle changes such as increasing the ractice of exercise could enhance the cognitive erformance and general health in elderly eole.
Table 1: Multivariate analysis (weighted) of the association between dementia and sociodemograhic data D (%) Age grou 0.000 60-64 5 (1.9) 1.000 65-69 6 (2.6) 0.6 (0.2-2.4) 0.509 70-74 14 (5.9) 2.2 (0.8-6.5) 0.141 75-79 15 (9.7) 3.7 (1.3-11.0) 0.016 80 26 (20.3) 8.1 (2.9-22.4) 0.000 Ocuation 0.039 Not qualified 12 (7.8) 1.2 (0.5-2.7) 0.628 Household chores 29 (8.6) 2.7 (1.3-5.1) 0.005 Never had a job 1.0 (11.1) 0.999 Emloyment 0.000 No 41 (9.8) 4.3 (2.2-8.2) reference level. a. Variable(s) entered on ste 1: age, ocuation, emloyment, stroke, hysical activity.
Table 2: Final model of multivariate analysis (weighted) of the association between dementia and sociodemograhic data, clinical disease and hysical activity D (%) Age grou 0.000 60-64 5 (1.9) 1.000 65-69 6 (2.6) 0.6 (0.1-2.1) 0.397 70-74 14 (5.9) 2.1 (0.7-6.1) 0.173 75-79 15 (9.7) 3.9 (1.1-10.0) 0.028 80 26 (20.3) 6.7 (2.4-18.8) 0.000 Ocuation 0.024 Not qualified 12 (7.8) 1.1 (0.5-2.5) 0.895 Household chores 29 (8.6) 2.7 (1.4-5.3) 0.004 Never had a job 1.0 (11.1) 0.999 Emloyment 0.000 No 41 (9.8) 4.3 (2.2-8.3) Stroke 0.001 Yes 54 (5.3) 1.000 No 11 (25.6) 4.5 (1.9-11.0) Physical exercise 0.076 Yes 23 (3.8) No 39 (8.6) 1.7 (0.9-3.2) reference level. a. Variable(s) entered on ste 1: age, ocuation, emloyment, stroke, hysical activity.
Table 3: Final Model of multivariate analysis (weighted) of the association between dementia and sociodemograhic data (excet age) Dementia (%) Educational level 0.032 12 5 (2.5) 1.000 Iliterate 19 (18.1) 4.0 (1.4-11.6) 0.012 1-4 27 (6.0) 1.6 (0.6-4.3) 0.363 5-8 5 (5.0) 1.5 (0.4-5.7) 0.571 9-11 7 (3.9) 1.2 (0.4-3.8) 0.782 Marital state 0.010 Married 26 (4.2) 1.000 Not married* 1 (1.7) 0.4 (0.1-3.1) 0.390 Single 6 (7.0) 0.5 (0.1-4.1) 0.540 Widow 30 (10.8) 1.9 (0.7-5.3) 0.002 Emloyment 0.000 No 41 (9.8) 3.2 (1.8-5.9) reference level. *Not married means no longer married (searated or divorced). Variable(s) entered on ste 1: occuation, emloyment, educational level, skin color, socioeconomic class, marital state, religion.
Table 4: Final Model of multivariate analysis (weighted) of the association between dementia and sociodemograhic data (excet age), clinical characteristics and hysical activity. Dementia (%) Ocuation 0.055 Not qualified 12 (7.8) 0.999 Household chores 29 (8.6) 2.6 (1.3-5.1) 0.006 Never had a job 1.0 (11.1) 1.3 (0.6-3.1) 0.492 Marital state 0.018 Single 6 (7.0) 1.000 Married 26 (4.2) 0.5 (0.1-4.1) 0.540 Widow 30 (10.8) 1.9 (0.7-5.3) 0.196 Not married* 1 (1.7) 2.6 (1.4-4.8) 0.003 Emloyment 0.000 No 41 (9.8) 4.4 (2.3-8.3) Stroke 0.001 No 54 (5.3) 1.000 Yes 11 (25.6) 4.3 (1.8-10.5) Physical activity 0.024 Yes 23 (3.8) 1.000 No 39 (8.6) 2.0 (1.2-3.5) reference level. *Not married means no longer married (searated or divorced). Variable(s) entered on ste 1: skin color, occuation, educational level, socioeconomic class, marital state, emloyment, stroke, hysical exercise, religion.