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Exercise of Any Level Cuts Mortality Risk in People with Dementia: Daily Dose
Patient Care brings primary care clinicians a lot of medical news every day—it’s easy to miss an important study. The Daily Dose provides a concise summary of one of the website's leading stories you may not have seen.
On November 19, 2024, we reported on a new study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine that examined the associations between the amount and changes in regular physical activity (PA) before and after diagnosis of dementia and all-cause mortality risk.
The study
Investigators tapped data from the Korean National Health Insurance Service Database, including 60 252 individuals (mean age 74 years, 39% men) newly diagnosed with dementia between 2010 and 2016 who underwent health examinations both before and after diagnosis. PA was assessed via self-report, using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire–Short Form. The cohort was grouped based on changes in regular PA before and after a dementia diagnosis and were followed for all-cause mortality for an average of 3.7 years.
The findings
Results showed that initiating any PA intensity after a diagnosis of dementia was associated with at least 20% reduced mortality risk. Higher levels of PA were linked to a dose-dependent decrease in mortality risk (P <.001) and, after multivariable adjustment, participants who remained physically active both before and after a diagnosis of dementia compared with those who did not engage at all, had the lowest risk of mortality, at 29% (HR 0.71, 95% CI, 0.65-0.79).
When they evaluated the effects on mortality risk of sustained PA across levels of intensity, study authors reported an average risk reduction of 30%:
Light: HR 0.70, 95%CI 0.67 to 0.75
Moderate: HR 0.74, 95%CI 0.64 to 0.86
Vigorous: HR 0.70, 95%CI 0.61 to 0.79
