AUTHOR=Zhào Hóngyi , Wei Wei , Lv Fang , Shen Jie , Huang Yonghua 

TITLE=Detecting the fractal physical activity pattern in aged adults with cerebral small vessel disease

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 17 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/aging-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2025.1569582

DOI=10.3389/fnagi.2025.1569582

ISSN=1663-4365

ABSTRACT=BackgroundActigraphy is widely used to detect a decline in physical activity in aged individuals with cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD). Disturbed fractal physical activity has been reported in aged adults with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and other neuropsychiatric disorders.ObjectivesTo analyze the fractal physical activity pattern in elderly patients with cSVD.MethodsFrom May 2021 to August 2023, 55 patients with cSVD aged 60–80 years admitted to the seventh medical center of PLA General Hospital were included. The presence of lacunes, white matter hyperintensities, cerebral microbleeds, and perivascular spaces on magnetic resonance images (MRI) were rated independently. Furthermore, these MRI markers were summed in a score of 0–4, representing all cSVD features combined. Detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) was used to evaluate the fractal physical activity fluctuations at multiple time scales. The relationship between the fractal physical activity pattern and physical activity and sleep quality was analyzed with partial Pearson correlation analysis.ResultsIndividuals with a low severity cSVD burden showed a significant tendency toward a random fractal pattern relative to those with a higher severity cSVD burden. Similar results were obtained when comparing the lacune positive and negative groups. In aged adults with cSVD, fractal disturbance was associated with an average level of physical activity and not sleep quality.ConclusionThese findings demonstrate the presence of obvious fractal physical activity complexity in aged adults with cSVD.