Patients with Alzheimer's disease have reduced activities in midlife compared with healthy control-group members

Abstract

The development of Alzheimer's disease (AD) later in life may be reflective of environmental factors operating over the course of a lifetime. Educational and occupational attainments have been found to be protective against the development of the disease but participation in activities has received little attention. In a casecontrol study, we collected questionnaire data about 26 nonoccupational activities from ages 20 to 60. Participants included 193 people with probable or possible AD and 358 healthy controlgroup members. Activity patterns for intellectual, passive, and physical activities were classified by using an adaptation of a published scale in terms of ''diversity'' (total number of activities), ''intensity'' (hours per month), and ''percentage intensity'' (percentage of total activity hours devoted to each activity category). The control group was more active during midlife than the case group was for all three activity categories, even after controlling for age, gender, income adequacy, and education. The odds ratio for AD in those performing less than the mean value of activities was 3.85 (95% confidence interval: 2.65-5.58, P < 0.001). The increase in time devoted to intellectual activities from early adulthood (20 -39) to middle adulthood (40 -60) was associated with a significant decrease in the probability of membership in the case group. We conclude that diversity of activities and intensity of intellectual activities were reduced in patients with AD as compared with the control group. These findings may be because inactivity is a risk factor for the disease or because inactivity is a reflection of very early subclinical effects of the disease, or both.case-control study ͉ dementia ͉ epidemiology ͉ leisure ͉ recreation

Aqueous extract of lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) improves the spatial performance of a rat model of Alzheimer’s disease

“…Such a difference was not observed during the second stage when COV and ALZV animals showed a similarity in maze performance. This is consistent with some previous retrospective [24,25] and prospective longitudinal [23,26] studies that support the hypothesis that in- creased use of cognitive skills and higher levels of education can protect against the development of AD. However, epidemiological studies cannot determine which activities or the combination of them are more important [27] .…”

Healthy Brain Aging: Role of Exercise and Physical Activity

“…Others have reported that patients with AD were less active during their adulthood than subjects without dementia. [40][41][42][43][44][45] These case-control studies are even more prone to methodological bias.…”

Beneficial effects of moderate voluntary physical exercise and its biological mechanisms on brain health

“…A retrospective case control study reported that patients with AD were less active (both intellectually and physically) in midlife and that inactivity was associated with a 250% increased risk of developing AD [7] . Similarly, a prospective study also demonstrated that physical activity was protective against the development of cognitive impairment, AD, and any types of dementia, and that the highest activity group showed a 60% decrease in the incidence of AD [8] .…”