| Health / Health News |
Rare Alzheimer's Disease Patients May Delay Cognitive Decline with Exercise
Engaging in at least 2.5 hours of physical activity per week may have beneficial effects on markers of Alzheimer's disease brain changes and may delay cognitive decline in people who carry a genetic mutation that causes Alzheimer's disease.
Rare Alzheimer's disease patients may delay cognitive decline with exercise. 
According to the authors, these results support the benefit of physical activity on cognition and dementia progression, even in individuals with autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease (ADAD), a rare genetically-driven form of the disease in which the development of dementia at a relatively young age is inevitable.
The officially recommended physical activity duration of 150 minutes per week was associated with significantly better cognition and less Alzheimer's disease pathology in ADAD.
From a public health perspective, this amount of physical activity was achieved by 70% of all ADAD individuals participating at the DIAN study. Therefore, a physically active lifestyle is achievable and may play an important role in delaying the development and progression of ADAD.
Christoph Laske, M.D. and his research team at the University Hospital of Tübingen, Germany analyzed data generated from 275 individuals (average age 38.4) who carry a genetic mutation for ADAD and are participating in the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer's Network (DIAN), an international observational study of individuals and families with ADAD led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Researchers aimed to determine if at least 150 minutes of physical activity (walking, running, swimming, aerobics, etc.) per week—the current recommendation by the World Health Organization and the American College of Sports Medicine—would produce cognitive benefits for the study participants.
One hundred fifty-six (156) were classified as high physical activity individuals (over 150 minutes physical activity/week); 68 as low physical activity individuals (less 150 minutes physical activity/week). Exercise intensity was not measured, but the type and frequency was corroborated by a source such as a family member or a friend.
Researchers found individuals who engaged in more physical activity scored better on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Clinical Dementia Rating Sum of Boxes (CDR-SOB), which are well-accepted standard measures of cognition and function.
Similarly, individuals who exercised more had lower levels of Alzheimer's disease biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid, including lower tau, a protein that builds up in the brains of people living with Alzheimer's disease. However, individual trajectories of cognitive changes have not been assessed in this cross-sectional study.
A physically active lifestyle is achievable and may play an important role in delaying the development and progression of ADAD. Individuals at genetic risk for dementia should therefore be counselled to pursue a physically active lifestyle. (Tasnim News Agency)
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