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Document Type

Abstract

Publication Date

12-1-2024

Abstract

Background/Purpose: WHO guidelines on physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous PA per week for cognitive benefits, but the relative impacts of concentrated vs evenly distributed activity remain unclear. The “Weekend Warrior” (WW) pattern is characterized by achieving the recommended PA levels in one or two sessions. Despite its prevalence, the cognitive benefits of WW pattern are not well-established. More research is required to clarify the associations between PA and cognitive function in WW and other PA patterns (e.g., inactive, regularly active). The aim of this study was to explore the associations of WW pattern and other PA patterns with cognitive function in older adults.

Method: Data of 2929 older adults with a mean age of 69.49 years (48.6% males) from NHANES 2011−2014 were used. Participants were categorized into 3 PA patterns (inactive, weekend warrior, and regularly active) by self-reported PA levels. They also completed the Word Learning subtest (WL), the Animal Fluency Test (AFT) and the Digital Symbol Substitution Test (DSST). Participant characteristics in different groups were tested using the χ2 test and ANOVA tests. Linear regression models were used to estimate the relationship between PA pattern and cognitive function. Finally, stratified and interaction analyses were conducted to investigate whether the association was stable among subgroups.

Results: The participants’ PA pattern distribution was inactive 1524 (52.03%), WW 58 (1.98%) and regularly active 1347 (45.99%). After adjusting for these demographic covariates, behavioral factors, and disease conditions, there were significant associations between regularly active pattern and the scores of cognition function tests (β[95% confidence intervals] for WL, AFT, DSST was 0.55[0.10,0.99], 0.96[0.60,1.33], 2.23[1.29,3.18], respectively) when compared with inactive pattern. However, WW did not show significant effect on cognitive function whether compared with regularly active or inactive pattern. Further stratified analyses exhibited that WW pattern was significantly associated with cognitive function in females, the Non-Hispanic White elderly and those suffering from cancer. Age and race had significant interaction on the relationship between PA pattern and cognitive function.

Conclusion/Discussion: Compared with inactive patterns, regularly active patterns could significantly improve cognitive function in the older adults, and WW pattern could improve cognitive function in some specific subgroup elderly. It is preferable for older adults to spread the recommended PA over the week; however, if time constraints exist, condensing the activity into fewer days is deemed acceptable for certain groups.

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