A Longitudinal Study of Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Cognitive Function in Healthy Older Adults

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether cardiorespiratory fitness at baseline is associated with maintenance of cognitive function over 6 years or with level of cognitive function on tests performed 6 years later in a longitudinal study of healthy older people. DESIGN: Prospective cohort. SETTING: Community‐based study of noninstitutionalized adults aged 55 and older living in Sonoma, California. PARTICIPANTS: Three hundred forty‐nine cohort members without evidence of cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal disability, or cognitive impairment at baseline. MEASUREMENTS: Cardiorespiratory fitness measures were based on a standard treadmill exercise test protocol and included peak oxygen consumption (peak VO 2 ), treadmill exercise duration, and oxygen uptake efficiency slope (OUES). Cognitive function was evaluated at baseline with a modified Mini‐Mental State Examination (mMMSE) and after 6 years of follow‐up with a detailed cognitive test battery that included the full MMSE, three tests of attention/executive function, two measures of verbal memory, and two tests of verbal fluency. RESULTS: Participants with worse cardiorespiratory fitness at baseline experienced greater decline on the mMMSE over 6 years (mean mMMSE decline (95% confidence interval) by baseline peak VO 2 tertile: lowest = −0.5 (−0.8 to −0.3), middle = −0.2 (−0.5–0.0), highest = 0.0 (−0.3–0.2), P = .002 for trend over tertiles). Participants with worse baseline cardiorespiratory fitness also performed worse on all cognitive tests conducted 6 years later. Results were similar for analyses based on peak VO 2 , treadmill exercise duration, and OUES. After adjustment for demographic and health‐related covariates, measures of cardiorespiratory fitness were associated most strongly with measures of global cognitive function and attention/executive function. CONCLUSION: Baseline measures of cardiorespiratory fitness are positively associated with preservation of cognitive function over a 6‐year period and with levels of performance on cognitive tests conducted 6 years later in healthy older adults. High cardiorespiratory fitness may protect against cognitive dysfunction in older people.