Journal
JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY SERIES A-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICAL SCIENCES
Volume 75, Issue 9, Pages E67-E73Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/gerona/glz287
Keywords
Cognition; Fatigability; Perceived exertion
Categories
Funding
- National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health [U01AG057545, R21AG053198, P30AG021334]
- NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING [ZIAAG000015, ZIAAG000185] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
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Background: Cognitive decline is consistently associated with diminished life satisfaction and inability to live independently. Identifying early, novel markers of cognitive decline is imperative for improving clinical detection and promoting long-term quality of life. Fatigability, one's perceived exertion after a standardized walking task, has been associated with declines in physical function; however, it remains unclear as to whether these effects may also extend to cognitive function. Methods: We examined whether perceived fatigability, assessed as the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) after a 5 min slow-paced treadmill walk (0.67 m/s, 0% grade), is longitudinally associated with cognitive performance in the domains of memory, executive functions, language, and attention among 934 cognitively intact individuals aged at least 50 years participating in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA); M-age = 69.6 +/- 10.1, 51.9% female participants. Continuous associations between RPE and each domain (individual test and composite scores) were assessed using linear mixed-effect models adjusted for demographics and comorbid conditions. Results: In fully adjusted models, higher fatigability at baseline was associated with declines in all cognitive domains over an average 2.2 years of follow-up (p < .04 for all). Longitudinally, increased fatigability over time was associated with worsened executive functions (beta = -0.01, p = .002). Conclusions: These findings suggest that perceived fatigability after a standardized walking task may aid in identification of individuals at a higher risk of future cognitive decline. Future research should examine underlying biological mechanisms contributing to this relationship as well as whether future interventions may target fatigability in midlife to attenuate age-related cognitive decline.
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