INS NYC 2024 Program

Paper	Paper Session 04 Program Schedule 02/15/2024 11:45 am - 01:15 pm Room: West Side Ballroom - Salon 3 Paper Session 04: Cognitive Aging and Related Topics 1 Final Abstract #5 Examining the Role of Age and Physical Fitness on the Relationship Between Physical Activity and Executive Functions in Aging Matthew Stauder, The Ohio State University, Columbus, United States Scott Hayes, The Ohio State University, Columbus, United States Category: Aging Keyword 1: aging (normal) Keyword 2: executive functions Objective: Engagement in physical activity has been associated with reduced decline of executive functions with advanced age. Extant research has shown considerable variability in the size of this effect, and limited studies have explored how different age groups and modifiable mechanisms may explain this variability. Our objective was to investigate the relative effects of physical activity on executive function performance across a sample of healthy adults aged 36-100 years and to examine the extent to which modifiable aspects of physical fitness can explain the physical activity-cognition relationship. Participants and Methods: Self-reported moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, measures of physical fitness (grip strength, gait speed, cardiorespiratory fitness), and executive function performance (inhibition, working memory, cognitive flexibility) were collected from 625 adults from the Human Connectome Project – Aging (HCP) dataset (mean age = 59.3 years, sd = 15.0; mean education = 17.5 years, sd = 2.2; 57.8% female). Composite metrics of physical fitness and executive function were calculated. Cross-sectional analyses of relative importance, a measure of partitioned variance controlling for collinearity and order of variable entry into the model, and hierarchical multiple regressions were used to examine the relative strength of relationships between age, physical activity, composite physical fitness, and composite executive function performance. The moderating effect of age and mediating effect of physical fitness variables on the relationship between physical activity and executive functions were assessed using the PROCESS macro. Covariates in all models included age, sex, race, education, cognitive status, cardiometabolic risk, and processing speed performance. Results: The full cross-sectional hierarchical regression model explained 52.1% of variance in executive function performance. Averaged across possible model orderings, self-reported moderate-to-vigorous physical activity explained a negligible amount of variance in executive function performance (0.2%), while composite physical fitness explained 12.0% of variance. Controlling for covariates, physical activity was not significantly associated with executive functions (β = -0.04, p = 0.17) but higher levels of composite physical fitness was significantly related to better executive function performance (β = 0.30, p < 0.001), and accounted for a significant additional amount of explained variance (ΔR² = 0.04, p < 0.001). These relationships were not dependent on age. There was a significant and positive indirect effect of physical activity on executive functions through composite physical fitness (ab = 0.02, p = 0.01). The strength of this indirect effect increased with age and was driven by the positive effect of physical activity on executive functions through higher cardiorespiratory fitness. Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that objective measures of physical fitness, specifically cardiorespiratory fitness, have significant direct relationships with executive function performance, and significantly mediate the relationship between self-reported physical activity and executive function performance. Our findings also suggest that the strength of this indirect effect increases with age. These results indicate that physical activity associated with maintained or improved physical fitness may partially account for the salutary effects of physical activity on executive functions with advanced age, independent of cognitive status, cardiometabolic risk, and processing speed performance.

Paper

02/15/2024
11:45 am - 01:15 pm
Room: West Side Ballroom - Salon 3

Paper Session 04: Cognitive Aging and Related Topics 1

Final Abstract #5

Examining the Role of Age and Physical Fitness on the Relationship Between Physical Activity and Executive Functions in Aging

Matthew Stauder, The Ohio State University, Columbus, United States
Scott Hayes, The Ohio State University, Columbus, United States

Category: Aging

Keyword 1: aging (normal)
Keyword 2: executive functions

Objective:

Engagement in physical activity has been associated with reduced decline of executive functions with advanced age. Extant research has shown considerable variability in the size of this effect, and limited studies have explored how different age groups and modifiable mechanisms may explain this variability. Our objective was to investigate the relative effects of physical activity on executive function performance across a sample of healthy adults aged 36-100 years and to examine the extent to which modifiable aspects of physical fitness can explain the physical activity-cognition relationship.

Participants and Methods:

Self-reported moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, measures of physical fitness (grip strength, gait speed, cardiorespiratory fitness), and executive function performance (inhibition, working memory, cognitive flexibility) were collected from 625 adults from the Human Connectome Project – Aging (HCP) dataset (mean age = 59.3 years, sd = 15.0; mean education = 17.5 years, sd = 2.2; 57.8% female). Composite metrics of physical fitness and executive function were calculated. Cross-sectional analyses of relative importance, a measure of partitioned variance controlling for collinearity and order of variable entry into the model, and hierarchical multiple regressions were used to examine the relative strength of relationships between age, physical activity, composite physical fitness, and composite executive function performance. The moderating effect of age and mediating effect of physical fitness variables on the relationship between physical activity and executive functions were assessed using the PROCESS macro. Covariates in all models included age, sex, race, education, cognitive status, cardiometabolic risk, and processing speed performance.

Results:

The full cross-sectional hierarchical regression model explained 52.1% of variance in executive function performance. Averaged across possible model orderings, self-reported moderate-to-vigorous physical activity explained a negligible amount of variance in executive function performance (0.2%), while composite physical fitness explained 12.0% of variance. Controlling for covariates, physical activity was not significantly associated with executive functions (β = -0.04, p = 0.17) but higher levels of composite physical fitness was significantly related to better executive function performance (β = 0.30, p < 0.001), and accounted for a significant additional amount of explained variance (ΔR² = 0.04, p < 0.001). These relationships were not dependent on age. There was a significant and positive indirect effect of physical activity on executive functions through composite physical fitness (ab = 0.02, p = 0.01). The strength of this indirect effect increased with age and was driven by the positive effect of physical activity on executive functions through higher cardiorespiratory fitness.

Conclusions:

Our findings demonstrate that objective measures of physical fitness, specifically cardiorespiratory fitness, have significant direct relationships with executive function performance, and significantly mediate the relationship between self-reported physical activity and executive function performance. Our findings also suggest that the strength of this indirect effect increases with age. These results indicate that physical activity associated with maintained or improved physical fitness may partially account for the salutary effects of physical activity on executive functions with advanced age, independent of cognitive status, cardiometabolic risk, and processing speed performance.