Exercise in mid- and later-life most important for staving off dementia

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-11-20 03:00

International

CC:0

People with the highest levels of physical activity at midlife and late life have the best chance of avoiding dementia, say US researchers. The team looked into the lives of 1526 young adults, 1943 people in their midlife, and 855 in their later life, and found that people who had the highest levels of activity at midlife and late life had a 41% and 45% lower risk of developing dementia, compared to their more sedentary peers. Additionally, the team noted that the more sedentary 'younger' adults did not have a similar association with dementia.

Media release

From: JAMA

About The Study: In this cohort study of adults in the Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort, higher levels of midlife and late-life physical activity were associated with similar reductions in risk of all-cause and Alzheimer disease dementia. These findings may inform future efforts to delay or prevent dementia through timing interventions during the most relevant stages of the adult life course.

Attachments

Note: Not all attachments are visible to the general public. Research URLs will go live after the embargo ends.

Research JAMA, Web page The URL will go live after the embargo ends

Journal/
conference: JAMA Network Open

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA | Boston University School of Public Health, USA

Funder: This study was supported by the Framingham Heart Study of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Boston University School of Medicine. This project has been funded with federal funds from the NHLBI-NIH. The authors were supported by the National Institute on Aging-NIH (grant Nos. 1RF1AG072654 and 5K01AG080119), American Heart Association (grant No. 20SFRN35360180), and Alzheimer’s Association (grant No.23AARF-1019048).

Media Contact/s

Contact details are only visible to registered journalists.