Anna S Ord, Adrienne H Eldridge, David R Netz, Shannon G Kuschel, Jamie Holland, Theresa Long, Candace Dumas, Crista Glover, Morgan Schools, Rachel Stephens, Anna T Magnante, Scott W Sautter
{"title":"Physical Activity and Neuropsychological Functioning in Older Adults.","authors":"Anna S Ord, Adrienne H Eldridge, David R Netz, Shannon G Kuschel, Jamie Holland, Theresa Long, Candace Dumas, Crista Glover, Morgan Schools, Rachel Stephens, Anna T Magnante, Scott W Sautter","doi":"10.1177/23337214241262924","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Research has identified a positive relationship between physical activity and neuropsychological functioning across the lifespan. The present study further examined the relationship between physical activity, depression, anxiety, and cognitive functioning in community-dwelling older adults (ages 65-96) who completed an outpatient neuropsychological evaluation (<i>N</i> = 526). Psychometrically sound and validated measures were used to assess depression, anxiety, and cognitive functioning. Analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) were conducted to examine differences between individuals who reported regularly engaging in physical activity and those who did not, after adjusting for demographic variables (age, education, and gender). Results indicated that physical activity was associated with better scores on measures of depression, anxiety, and cognitive functioning. Effect sizes for total scores on all measures were large, but there was a sizeable range of effect sizes (from small to large) for various cognitive domains. Smallest effect sizes were observed for subtests measuring language skills and visuospatial abilities, whereas largest effect sizes were seen in processing speed and memory. Results suggest that engaging in physical activity may be a beneficial non-pharmacological intervention for older adults. These findings underscore the importance of integrating physical activity programs in community and healthcare settings to foster mental and cognitive health in older populations.</p>","PeriodicalId":52146,"journal":{"name":"Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11191622/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/23337214241262924","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"GERIATRICS & GERONTOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Research has identified a positive relationship between physical activity and neuropsychological functioning across the lifespan. The present study further examined the relationship between physical activity, depression, anxiety, and cognitive functioning in community-dwelling older adults (ages 65-96) who completed an outpatient neuropsychological evaluation (N = 526). Psychometrically sound and validated measures were used to assess depression, anxiety, and cognitive functioning. Analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) were conducted to examine differences between individuals who reported regularly engaging in physical activity and those who did not, after adjusting for demographic variables (age, education, and gender). Results indicated that physical activity was associated with better scores on measures of depression, anxiety, and cognitive functioning. Effect sizes for total scores on all measures were large, but there was a sizeable range of effect sizes (from small to large) for various cognitive domains. Smallest effect sizes were observed for subtests measuring language skills and visuospatial abilities, whereas largest effect sizes were seen in processing speed and memory. Results suggest that engaging in physical activity may be a beneficial non-pharmacological intervention for older adults. These findings underscore the importance of integrating physical activity programs in community and healthcare settings to foster mental and cognitive health in older populations.
期刊介绍:
Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine (GGM) is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed open access journal where scholars from a variety of disciplines present their work focusing on the psychological, behavioral, social, and biological aspects of aging, and public health services and research related to aging. The journal addresses a wide variety of topics related to health services research in gerontology and geriatrics. GGM seeks to be one of the world’s premier Open Access outlets for gerontological academic research. As such, GGM does not limit content due to page budgets or thematic significance. Papers will be subjected to rigorous peer review but will be selected solely on the basis of whether the research is sound and deserves publication. By virtue of not restricting papers to a narrow discipline, GGM facilitates the discovery of the connections between papers.