Physical inactivity and cognitive impairment in Korean older adults: gender differences in potential covariates.

BACKGROUND

Physical inactivity is one major lifestyle risk factor of mild cognitive impairment with ageing.

AIM

To investigate whether or not potential covariates modulate the association between physical activity (PA) and cognitive impairment in older adults.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

Data from 10 245 Korean older adults (5817 women) were used.

RESULTS

High PA older adults were younger and longer educated and had lower comorbidity and depression than low PA older adults. Compared with low PA men, moderate PA men only had a significantly lower odds-ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) (OR = 0.795, 95% CI = 0.654 ∼ 0.965, p = 0.021) for having cognitive impairment, even after adjusting for measured covariates, which was no longer significant when additionally adjusted for comorbidity (OR = 0.862, 95% CI = 0.707 ∼ 1.051, p = 0.143). Compared with low PA women, moderate and high PA women had significantly lower risks of cognitive impairment (OR = 0.830, 95% CI = 0.712 ∼ 0.969, p = 0.018 and OR = 0.784, 95% CI = 0.651 ∼ 0.943, p = 0.010, respectively), even after adjusting for the measured covariates including comorbidity, which was no longer significant when additionally adjusted for depression (OR = 0.897, 95% CI = 0.776 ∼ 1.049, p = 0.173 and OR = 0.919, 95% CI = 0.761 ∼ 1.111, p = 0.385, respectively).

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest that gender differences in the covariates modulate the relationship between physical activity and cognitive decline in older Korean adults.