Midlife Activity Tied to Slower Cognitive Decline — SkimNews
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- UT Health San Antonio researchers found that midlife physical activity and healthy fasting blood sugar were linked to significantly slower cognitive decline decades later in a study of 402 San Antonio residents (mean age 57.9; 52% Hispanic, 48% non-Hispanic white).
- Physical activity was particularly associated with slower cognitive decline among Mexican American participants, while fasting blood glucose of 126 mg/dL or lower was linked to slower decline among non-Hispanic white participants.
- The study, published July 23 in Alzheimer's & Dementia: Behavior & Socioeconomics of Aging, measured cardiovascular health via the American Heart Association's Life's Simple 7 framework and assessed cognition up to four times using the Mini-Mental State Examination.
- Claudia Satizabal, PhD, co-senior author and associate professor at UT Health San Antonio's Glenn Biggs Institute, said improving cardiovascular health through modifiable lifestyle changes could 'meaningfully alleviate the public health burden of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, particularly in high-risk populations.'
- About 14% of Hispanic adults aged 65 or older have Alzheimer's, compared with 10% of non-Hispanic white older adults, according to figures cited in the study, and nearly 40% of Alzheimer's cases may be linked to modifiable risk factors.
- First author Janette Vazquez, PhD noted that larger samples are needed to replicate the ethnicity-specific differences, and participants are now being recruited for the new San Antonio Heart and Mind Study (SAHMS) with brain imaging.
- The analysis drew on participants from the San Antonio Heart Study (conducted 1979 through the 2000s, over 5,000 participants) and the San Antonio Longitudinal Study of Aging (SALSA), both led by UT Health San Antonio.
Why it matters: Nearly 40% of Alzheimer's cases may trace to modifiable risk factors, yet the study's ethnicity-specific findings — exercise mattered most for Mexican Americans, blood sugar control for non-Hispanic whites — indicate that uniform prevention guidance could underperform in high-burden populations like Hispanic older adults, who develop Alzheimer's at roughly 1.4 times the rate of their non-Hispanic white peers.
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