Long-term changes in cardiorespiratory fitness and incidence of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias among US Veterans.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-15-2025

Publication Title

Alzheimers Dement (N Y)

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) remain a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Poor cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) has been identified as a potential risk factor for ADRD. Since CRF is a modifiable risk factor, we evaluated the association between CRF changes over time and ADRD risk.

METHODS: Our cohort consisted of US Veterans (mean age 60.7±9.0 years; male,

RESULTS: During the up to 15.0 years of follow-up (mean 7.2 years; interquartile range [IQR] 4.3-9.9 years), totaling 966,337 person-years, 10,699 ADRD cases occurred (11.1 events/1000 person-years). Compared to the Low-fit group, ADRD risk decreased progressively with increased CRF and was 22% lower (hazard ratio [HR] 0.78; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.75-0.81;

CONCLUSION: We observed an inverse and independent association between CRF and ADRD risk. An improvement in CRF of approximately ≥1.0 MET led to a lower risk of ADRD in Low-fit individuals. These findings may have considerable clinical and public health significance in reducing ADRD risk.

HIGHLIGHTS: Poor cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) has been identified as a potential risk factor for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). Thus, we assessed the potential impact of changes in CRF over time on ADRD risk.CRF changes reflected inverse and proportional changes in ADRD risk.Low-fit individuals who improved their CRF by ≥0.1 metabolic equivalents (METs) had a 13%-24% lower ADRD risk. Conversely, a decline in CRF by ≥2.0 METs was associated with a 14% increased ADRD risk among Moderate-fit and a 18% increase among High-fit individuals.

Volume

11

Issue

4

First Page

e70171

DOI

10.1002/trc2.70171

ISSN

2352-8737

PubMed ID

41409742

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS