Departament of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, SPAIN.
Primary Healthcare Research Support Unit Metropolitana Nord, ICS-IDIAP Jordi Gol, Mataró, SPAIN.
Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2021 Jun 1;53(6):1252-1259. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000002570.
The benefits from physical activity (PA) and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) on normal age-related cognitive decline might be sex dependent. Our aim was to explore the relationship between different types of PA, CRF, and cognition and to identify the mediating effects of CRF in the association between PA and cognition in women and men.
We recruited 115 healthy adults 50-70 yr of age. We obtained demographic, cognitive, and PA status data based on the Projecte Moviment protocol. We calculated cognitive domains by grouping z-sample scores. We obtained self-reported total energy expenditure during the last month and grouped it into sportive PA (S-PA) and nonsportive PA (NS-PA). CRF was estimated using the Rockport 1-Mile Walk Test. We applied regression models and mediation analyses in a final sample of 104 individuals (65 women and 39 men).
In the total sample, CRF was positively associated with executive function, verbal memory, and attention-speed. S-PA was positively related to executive function and attention-speed, whereas NS-PA was unrelated to cognitive domains. Greater amounts of S-PA were associated with executive function and attention-speed for both women and men. Higher CRF was associated with executive function, memory, language, and attention-speed only in men. Mediation analyses showed that CRF was a significant mediator of the positive effects of S-PA on executive function and attention-speed in men but not in women.
Both women and men show cognitive benefits from greater S-PA, but not from NS-PA. However, there were sex differences in the mediating effects of CRF in this relationship, showing that CRF was mediating these benefits only in men.
体力活动（PA）和心肺适能（CRF）对正常年龄相关认知能力下降的益处可能依赖于性别。我们的目的是探讨不同类型的 PA、CRF 与认知之间的关系，并确定 CRF 在 PA 与认知之间的关联中对女性和男性的中介作用。
我们招募了 115 名 50-70 岁的健康成年人。我们根据 Projecte Moviment 方案获得了人口统计学、认知和 PA 状况数据。我们通过对 z 样本分数进行分组来计算认知领域。我们获得了过去一个月的自我报告总能量消耗，并将其分为运动性 PA（S-PA）和非运动性 PA（NS-PA）。CRF 使用 Rockport 1 英里步行测试进行估计。我们对最终样本中的 104 人（65 名女性和 39 名男性）应用回归模型和中介分析。
在总样本中，CRF 与执行功能、言语记忆和注意力速度呈正相关。S-PA 与执行功能和注意力速度呈正相关，而 NS-PA 与认知领域无关。更多的 S-PA 与女性和男性的执行功能和注意力速度有关。较高的 CRF 仅与男性的执行功能、记忆、语言和注意力速度有关。中介分析表明，CRF 是 S-PA 对男性执行功能和注意力速度的积极影响的重要中介，但在女性中并非如此。
女性和男性都从更多的 S-PA 中获益，认知能力得到提高，但 NS-PA 则没有。然而，在 CRF 在这种关系中的中介作用方面存在性别差异，表明 CRF 仅在男性中中介这些益处。
