ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Aging Neurosci.
Sec. Neurocognitive Aging and Behavior
Volume 17 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2025.1519494
This article is part of the Research TopicExpert Opinions in Neurocognitive Aging and Behavior: Neural Rehabilitation for Elder People, Volume IIView all articles
Correlation Between Physical Activity Levels and the Risk of Cognitive Impairment in Chinese Older Adults
Provisionally accepted
- 1Wuhan Sports University, Wuhan, China
- 2Yuncheng University, Yuncheng, Shanxi Province, China
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To analyze the correlation between the level of physical activity and the risk of cognitive impairment in Chinese older adults aged 60 years and above, and to provide correlational evidence for the development of targeted strategies to prevent cognitive impairment. Methods: This study used five rounds of longitudinal data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) conducted between 2011 and 2020, which included 3,583 older adults aged 60 years and above. Multiple regression models were employed to evaluate the association between varying intensities of physical activity (low-intensity, moderate-intensity, and high-intensity) and the risk of developing cognitive impairment (HR). Results: In models that were not adjusted for any variables, the risk of cognitive impairment was reduced by 25.3% in the moderate-intensity physical activity group compared to the low-intensity group (HR=0.747, 95%CI: 0.617-0.903), and by 11.0% in the high-intensity group (HR=0.890, 95%CI: 0.798-0.992). In the model that fully controlled for all confounding variables, the risk ratio was further reduced to 30.7% (HR=0.693, 95%CI: 0.571-0.841) in the moderate-intensity physical activity group and 9.7% (HR=0.903, 95% CI: 0.809-1.007) in the high-intensity group. Dose-response analysis revealed an optimal strength of association between moderate-intensity physical activity (approximately 2,800 MET-minutes per week) and cognitive health. Conclusion: moderate-intensity physical activity can significantly reduce the risk of cognitive impairment among older adults in China. It is recommended that health management and cognitive impairment prevention strategies for this population incorporate moderate-intensity physical activity.
Keywords: elderly population, physical activity, cognitive impairment, Types Of Activities, Health protection
Received: 30 Oct 2024; Accepted: 05 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Dong, Wang, Chang and Tang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Lixu Tang, Wuhan Sports University, Wuhan, China
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