INS NYC 2024 Program

Poster	Poster Session 08 Program Schedule 02/16/2024 01:45 pm - 03:00 pm Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60) Poster Session 08: Cognition \| Cognitive Reserve Variables Final Abstract #28 Exercise Walking Pace in Older Adults and its Relationship with Cognition and Mood After Two Years Andrew Gradone, Georgia State University, Atlanta, United States Elizabeth Tighe, Georgia State University, Atlanta, United States Vonetta Dotson, Georgia State University, Atlanta, United States Category: Aging Keyword 1: cognitive functioning Keyword 2: depression Objective: Physical exercise may prevent and treat both cognitive decline and depressive symptoms in older adults. Walking is a particularly appealing exercise intervention because it is highly accessible, low-impact, safe, and generally well-tolerated. Although research suggests that gait speed is related to future health status, less is known about the impact of exercise walking pace (i.e., pace while walking for exercise) on future neuropsychological function in older adults. The goal of the current study was to determine the impact of exercise walking pace on cognition and mood at two-year follow-up. Participants and Methods: The analyses included 417 exercise walkers (mean age = 73.2 ± 2.76 years) from the Health, Aging, and Body Composition (ABC) Study. Participants self-reported their usual exercise walking pace as either brisk (n = 189), moderate (n = 191), or stroll (n = 37). Two years later, they underwent comprehensive neuropsychological testing and completed the 10-Item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D-10). ANCOVA was used to analyze the effect of exercise walking pace on each of following outcomes: global cognitive function, psychomotor speed, processing speed, executive function, verbal memory, and depressive symptoms. Covariates included race, education, six-meter gait speed, and health status. Post-hoc pairwise comparisons were run using least squares means. Results: There was a significant effect of exercise walking pace on all five cognitive outcomes: global cognitive function, psychomotor speed, processing speed, executive function, and verbal memory. The relationship was nonsignificant for depressive symptoms. Post hoc comparisons indicated that the mean score for the brisk pace group and the moderate pace group was significantly better than stroll pace group for all five cognitive domains. Cognitive performance two years later did not significantly differ between older adults in the brisk and moderate pace groups. Despite the nonsignificant ANCOVA for depressive symptoms, post hoc comparisons indicated that the mean depression score for the brisk pace group, but not the moderate pace group, was significantly better than stroll pace group two years later. Conclusions: This study shows that older adults who exercise walk at faster paces (i.e., moderate to brisk) demonstrate better cognitive functioning at two-year follow-up. Similarly, those who exercise walk at brisk paces demonstrate better mood at two-year follow-up. Of note, these relationships exist even after controlling for race, education, six-meter gait speed, and health status. This is an important finding because it suggests that walking exercise pace has a separate and dissociable effect from gait speed (i.e., the fastest speed a person is capable of walking) on cognitive and mood outcomes, two years into the future. Further research should focus on replicating this finding using more robust and objective measures of walking exercise pace.

Poster

02/16/2024
01:45 pm - 03:00 pm
Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60)

Poster Session 08: Cognition | Cognitive Reserve Variables

Final Abstract #28

Exercise Walking Pace in Older Adults and its Relationship with Cognition and Mood After Two Years

Andrew Gradone, Georgia State University, Atlanta, United States
Elizabeth Tighe, Georgia State University, Atlanta, United States
Vonetta Dotson, Georgia State University, Atlanta, United States

Category: Aging

Keyword 1: cognitive functioning
Keyword 2: depression

Objective:

Physical exercise may prevent and treat both cognitive decline and depressive symptoms in older adults. Walking is a particularly appealing exercise intervention because it is highly accessible, low-impact, safe, and generally well-tolerated. Although research suggests that gait speed is related to future health status, less is known about the impact of exercise walking pace (i.e., pace while walking for exercise) on future neuropsychological function in older adults. The goal of the current study was to determine the impact of exercise walking pace on cognition and mood at two-year follow-up.

Participants and Methods:

The analyses included 417 exercise walkers (mean age = 73.2 ± 2.76 years) from the Health, Aging, and Body Composition (ABC) Study. Participants self-reported their usual exercise walking pace as either brisk (n = 189), moderate (n = 191), or stroll (n = 37). Two years later, they underwent comprehensive neuropsychological testing and completed the 10-Item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D-10). ANCOVA was used to analyze the effect of exercise walking pace on each of following outcomes: global cognitive function, psychomotor speed, processing speed, executive function, verbal memory, and depressive symptoms. Covariates included race, education, six-meter gait speed, and health status. Post-hoc pairwise comparisons were run using least squares means.

Results:

There was a significant effect of exercise walking pace on all five cognitive outcomes: global cognitive function, psychomotor speed, processing speed, executive function, and verbal memory. The relationship was nonsignificant for depressive symptoms. Post hoc comparisons indicated that the mean score for the brisk pace group and the moderate pace group was significantly better than stroll pace group for all five cognitive domains. Cognitive performance two years later did not significantly differ between older adults in the brisk and moderate pace groups. Despite the nonsignificant ANCOVA for depressive symptoms, post hoc comparisons indicated that the mean depression score for the brisk pace group, but not the moderate pace group, was significantly better than stroll pace group two years later.

Conclusions:

This study shows that older adults who exercise walk at faster paces (i.e., moderate to brisk) demonstrate better cognitive functioning at two-year follow-up. Similarly, those who exercise walk at brisk paces demonstrate better mood at two-year follow-up. Of note, these relationships exist even after controlling for race, education, six-meter gait speed, and health status. This is an important finding because it suggests that walking exercise pace has a separate and dissociable effect from gait speed (i.e., the fastest speed a person is capable of walking) on cognitive and mood outcomes, two years into the future. Further research should focus on replicating this finding using more robust and objective measures of walking exercise pace.