Regular lifelong aerobic exercise training in older adults was associated with significantly higher cerebrovascular responsiveness to hypercapnia (80.3% vs 35.1%) compared to sedentary controls.
Cross-Sectional (n=26)
No
Does regular aerobic exercise training improve cerebrovascular function and cognition in older adults?
Regular lifelong aerobic exercise training is associated with improved cerebrovascular responsiveness and cognitive function in older adults, though these benefits may be mediated by cardiometabolic factors.
Absolute Event Rate: 80.3% vs 35.1%
p-value: p=<0.001
We compared the differences in cerebrovascular and cognitive function between 13 aerobic exercise trained, older adults and 13 age-, height- and sex-matched sedentary, untrained controls. We determined whether other measures accounted for differences in cerebrovascular and cognitive function between these groups and examined the associations between these functions. Participants undertook anthropometric, mood, cardiovascular, exercise performance, strength, cerebrovascular, and cognitive measurements, and a blood collection. Transcranial Doppler ultrasonography determined cerebrovascular responsiveness (CVR) to hypercapnia and cognitive stimuli. The trained group had a higher CVR to hypercapnia (80.3 ± 7.2 vs 35.1 ± 6.7%, P < 0.001), CVR to cognitive stimuli (30.1 ± 2.9 vs 17.8 ± 1.4%, P = 0.001) and total composite cognitive score (117 ± 2 vs 98 ± 4, P < 0.001) than the controls. These parameters no longer remained statistically different between the groups following adjustments for covariates. There were positive correlations between the total composite cognitive score and CVR to hypercapnia (r = 0.474, P = 0.014) and CVR to cognitive stimuli (r = 0.685, P < 0.001). We observed a relationship between cerebrovascular and cognitive function in older adults and an interaction between regular lifelong aerobic exercise training and cardiometabolic factors that may directly influence these functions.
Bliss et al. (Sun,) conducted a cross-sectional in Healthy older adults (n=26). Regular aerobic exercise training vs. Sedentary, untrained controls was evaluated on Cerebrovascular responsiveness (CVR) to hypercapnia (%) (p=<0.001). Regular lifelong aerobic exercise training in older adults was associated with significantly higher cerebrovascular responsiveness to hypercapnia (80.3% vs 35.1%) compared to sedentary controls.
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