Decreases in Daily Physical Activity Predict Acute Decline in Attention and Executive Function in Heart Failure

Abstract

Background Reduced physical activity (PA) may be one factor that contributes to cognitive decline and dementia in heart failure (HF). Yet, the longitudinal relationship between PA and cognition in HF is poorly understood due to limitations of past work, including single time assessments of PA. This is the first study to examine changes in objectively measured PA and cognition over time in HF. Methods At baseline and 12-weeks, 57 HF patients completed psychosocial self-report measures, a neuropsychological battery, and wore an accelerometer for seven days. Results At baseline, HF patients spent an average of 597.83 (SD = 75.91) minutes per day sedentary. Steps per day declined from baseline to the 12-week follow-up; there was also a trend for declines in moderate-vigorous PA. Regression analyses controlling for sex, HF severity, and depressive symptoms showed that decreases in light (p = 0.08) and moderate-vigorous (p = 0.04) daily PA emerged as strong predictors of declines in attention/executive function over the 12-week period, but not memory or language. Conclusions Reductions in daily PA predicted acute decline in attention/executive function in HF, but not memory or language. Modifications to daily PA may attenuate cognitive decline and prospective studies are needed to test this possibility.

FMRI activity during associative encoding is correlated with cardiorespiratory fitness and source memory performance in older adults

“…Nevertheless, our results support the notion that CRF may serve as a neural enrichment factor in aging, as it was positively associated with brain activation during associative encoding, which in turn contributed to enhanced subsequent source memory performance. Future work that assesses CRF, the brain, and cognition over time in healthy individuals, as well as those with cardiovascular risk factors (Hayes, Alosco, & Forman, 2014) and impaired cardiopulmonary function (Alosco et al, 2015; Alosco & Hayes, 2015) will provide greater understanding to the extent that modifiable individual difference factors contribute to brain maintenance.…”

Construct validity of the Heart Failure Screening Tool (Heart‐FaST) to identify heart failure patients at risk of poor self‐care: Rasch analysis

“…In other words, the items have a common function, as indicators of risk, though each domain assesses a distinct aspect of functioning as it pertains to self‐care (Cameron et al., ). Second, physical, cognitive and emotional limitations may be interdependent in the context of HF, with physical limitations affecting the cognitive and emotional well‐being of patients (Alosco, Spitznagel, Cohen, et al., ; Alosco, Spitznagel, Sweet, et al., ; Hawkins et al., ). For example, the physiological changes induced by HF can compound pre‐existing issues with memory and concentration and even precipitate cognitive impairment (Cannon, McMurray, & Quinn, ).…”

Physical Activity and Cognitive Function among Older Adults with Congestive Heart Failure Patients

“…A potential mechanism to explain this cognitive function decline observed among congestive heart failure patients is heart failure-induced cerebral hypoperfusion [5,6]; heart failure patients exhibit up to a 31% reduction in cerebral blood flow [7], which may compromise cognitive function [5,6]. Although physical activity is associated with improved cognitive function among the broader adult population as well as older adults (mechanisms discussed elsewhere [1]), the ability for physical activity to preserve cognitive function among congestive heart failure patients has been considerably less investigated [8][9][10][11][12][13]. To improve our understanding of the relationship between physical activity and cognitive function among older adults with congestive heart failure, the purpose of this brief report was to explore this relationship in a population-based sample.…”