Stefanie Lerche1, Alexandra Gutfreund2, Kathrin Brockmann2, Markus A Hobert3, Isabel Wurster2, Ulrike Sünkel2, Gerhard W Eschweiler4, Florian G Metzger4, Walter Maetzler3, Daniela Berg3. 1. Center of Neurology, Department of Neurodegeneration and Hertie-Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tuebingen, Hoppe Seyler-Strasse 3, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Tuebingen, Otfried-Müller-Str. 27, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany. Electronic address: Stefanie.Lerche@uni-tuebingen.de. 2. Center of Neurology, Department of Neurodegeneration and Hertie-Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tuebingen, Hoppe Seyler-Strasse 3, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Tuebingen, Otfried-Müller-Str. 27, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany. 3. Center of Neurology, Department of Neurodegeneration and Hertie-Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tuebingen, Hoppe Seyler-Strasse 3, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany; Department of Neurology, Christian-Albrechts University, Kiel, Germany. 4. Geriatric Center at the University Hospital of Tübingen, Germany; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Tübingen, Germany.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease increases with the raising number of elderly, which will be a challenging situation for the healthcare systems and society in the future. There is evidence that there are modifiable risk-factors e.g. physical activity for these diseases. Here, we study the interaction between sports inactivity with prodromal markers for neurodegeneration. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We investigated 667 neurologically healthy individuals cross-sectional and a subgroup longitudinal over six years. Participants were stratified by their weekly sports activity. Prodromal markers (depression and REM sleep behaviour disorder (RBD)) as well as single and dual-tasking parameters and cognitive parameters were compared between the groups. RESULTS: At baseline, sports activity was associated with lower BDI scores, lower occurrence of depressive syndrome and RBD, compared to sports inactivity. Further, active participants were faster in cognitive tasks associated with working memory and attention (Trail Making test part-A; TMT-B, ΔTMT-B-A) and better in gait and cognition parameters (single tasks and dual tasks) but not with overall cognition as measured with the MMSE. The association between physical inactivity and depression as well as TMT was present after six years. CONCLUSION: We found that sports activity has a positive effect on cognitive flexibility, depressive symptoms and sleep which are all signs for a possible ongoing neurodegenerative process. Therefore, our results strengthen the potential role of sports activity as a positive disease modifier.
OBJECTIVE: The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease increases with the raising number of elderly, which will be a challenging situation for the healthcare systems and society in the future. There is evidence that there are modifiable risk-factors e.g. physical activity for these diseases. Here, we study the interaction between sports inactivity with prodromal markers for neurodegeneration. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We investigated 667 neurologically healthy individuals cross-sectional and a subgroup longitudinal over six years. Participants were stratified by their weekly sports activity. Prodromal markers (depression and REM sleep behaviour disorder (RBD)) as well as single and dual-tasking parameters and cognitive parameters were compared between the groups. RESULTS: At baseline, sports activity was associated with lower BDI scores, lower occurrence of depressive syndrome and RBD, compared to sports inactivity. Further, active participants were faster in cognitive tasks associated with working memory and attention (Trail Making test part-A; TMT-B, ΔTMT-B-A) and better in gait and cognition parameters (single tasks and dual tasks) but not with overall cognition as measured with the MMSE. The association between physical inactivity and depression as well as TMT was present after six years. CONCLUSION: We found that sports activity has a positive effect on cognitive flexibility, depressive symptoms and sleep which are all signs for a possible ongoing neurodegenerative process. Therefore, our results strengthen the potential role of sports activity as a positive disease modifier.
Authors: Katherine C Hughes; Xiang Gao; Samantha Molsberry; Linda Valeri; Michael A Schwarzschild; Alberto Ascherio Journal: Neurology Date: 2019-11-12 Impact factor: 9.910