Physical Activity Midlife or Late Life Linked to Lower Dementia Risk

Higher physical activity in midlife and late life—but not early adulthood—is associated with a significantly lower risk of both all-cause and Alzheimer disease dementia. In this prospective analysis from the US Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort, 1526 early-adult, 1943 midlife, and 885 late-life participants were followed for up to 37 years, during which 567 developed dementia. Compared with the lowest activity quintile (Q), those in the highest midlife (Q4 HR 0.60; Q5 HR 0.59) and late-life (Q4 HR 0.64; Q5 HR 0.55) activity quintiles had substantially reduced dementia risk, with similar patterns for Alzheimer disease specifically. No association was observed for early-adult activity levels. These findings align with prior studies and highlight the importance of maintaining physical activity during midlife and later years as a potential strategy to prevent or delay dementia. Source: https://jamanetwork.com/