Midlife exercise blood pressure, heart rate, and fitness relate to brain volume 2 decades later.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To determine whether poor cardiovascular (CV) fitness and exaggerated exercise blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) were associated with worse brain morphology in later life.

Methods

Framingham Offspring participants (n = 1,094, 53.9% female) free from dementia and CV disease (CVD) underwent an exercise treadmill test at a mean age of 40 ± 9 years. A second treadmill test and MRI scans of the brain were administered 2 decades later at mean age of 58 ± 8 years.

Results

Poor CV fitness and greater diastolic BP and HR response to exercise at baseline were associated with a smaller total cerebral brain volume (TCBV) almost 2 decades later (all p < 0.05) in multivariable adjusted models; the effect of 1 SD lower fitness was equivalent to approximately 1 additi

SUBMITTER: Spartano NL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4826343 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature