Daily physical activity patterns during the early stage of Alzheimer’s disease

View/ Open
Issue Date
2016-11-19Author
Varma, Vijay R.
Watts, Amber
Publisher
IOS Press
Type
Article
Article Version
Scholarly/refereed, author accepted manuscript
Rights
© 2017 – IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Background - Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that results in severe disability. Very few studies have explored changes in daily physical activity patterns during early stages of AD when components of physical function and mobility may be preserved.
Methods - Patients with mild AD and controls (n=92) recruited from the University of Kansas Alzheimer’s Disease Center Registry, wore the Actigraph GT3X+ for seven days, and provided objective physical function (VO2 max) and mobility data. Using multivariate linear regression, we explored whether individuals with mild AD had different daily average and diurnal physical activity patterns compared to controls independent of non-cognitive factors that may affect physical activity, including physical function and mobility.
Results - We found that mild AD was associated with less moderate-intensity physical activity (p<0.05), lower peak activity (p<0.01), and lower physical activity complexity (p<0.05) particularly during the morning. Mild AD was not associated with greater sedentary activity or less lower-intensity physical activity across the day after adjusting for non-cognitive covariates.
Conclusions - These findings suggest that factors independent of physical capacity and mobility may drive declines in moderate-intensity physical activity, and not lower-intensity or sedentary activity, during the early stage of AD. This underscores the importance of a better mechanistic understanding of how cognitive decline and AD pathology impact physical activity. Findings emphasize the potential value of designing and testing time-of-day specific physical activity interventions targeting individuals in the early stages of AD, prior to significant declines in mobility and physical function.
Collections
Citation
Varma, V. R., & Watts, A. (2017). Daily physical activity patterns during the early stage of Alzheimer’s disease. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease : JAD, 55(2), 659–667. http://doi.org/10.3233/JAD-160582
Items in KU ScholarWorks are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.
We want to hear from you! Please share your stories about how Open Access to this item benefits YOU.