Changes in cognition and mortality in relation to exercise in late life: a population based study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

On average, cognition declines with age but this average hides considerable variability, including the chance of improvement. Here, we investigate how exercise is associated with cognitive change and mortality in older people and, particularly, whether exercise might paradoxically increase the risk of dementia by allowing people to live longer.

Methods and principal findings

In the Canadian Study of Health and Aging (CSHA), of 8403 people who had baseline cognition measured and exercise reported at CSHA-1, 2219 had died and 5376 were re-examined at CSHA-2. We used a parametric Markov chain model to estimate the probabilities of cognitive improvement, decline, and death, adjusted for age and education, from any cognitive state as measured by the Modified Mini-Menta

SUBMITTER: Middleton LE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2518854 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature