Free-Living Physical Activity Measured With a Wearable Device Is Associated With Larger Hippocampus Volume and Greater Functional Connectivity in Healthy Older Adults: An Observational, Cross-Sectional Study in Northern Portugal

Abstract

Several studies using neuroimaging techniques have established a positive relationship between physical activity (PA) and brain structure and function in older populations. However, the use of subjective measures of PA and the lack of multimodal neuroimaging approaches have limited the understanding of this association. This study aims to explore the associations between PA and brain structure and function by objectively evaluating PA. Community-dwelling cognitively healthy older adults (without diagnosed cognitive, neurological or degenerative disease) were recruited from local health centers and local gyms. In a cross-sectional design, participants were evaluated regarding cognitive, clinical, anthropometric, physical performance, and lifestyle characteristics. A 3 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed for structural and functional brain measures. PA time and level was assessed via a Xiaomi Mi Band 2® worn for 15 consecutive days. Participants (n = 110, after inclusion/exclusion criteria and completion of all evaluations) were 58 females (56%), with an average age of 68.42 years old (SD = 3.12), most were active. Multiple regression analysis revealed that higher time spent in vigorous PA associated with larger left parahippocampal gyrus and right hippocampus volumes. Furthermore, the analysis of the functional connectome indicated a greater functional connectivity (FC) between the frontal gyrus, cingulate gyrus, occipital inferior lobe for light, moderate, and total PA time, and sedentary time associated with lower FC in the same networks. Overall, the structural and functional findings may provide evidence on the relevant association between PA and brain health in aging.

Health-Related Telemonitoring Parameters/Signals of Older Adults: An Umbrella Review

“…These factors can cause variations in the health-related biological signals. Moreover, different health conditions and different environments cause variations in the functioning and performance of the different wearables, making the comparation between studies very difficult [ 4 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 ]. Differences between the studies in terms of the aims and sample sizes (number of studies included in the original reviews) made it difficult to compare them.…”

Baduanjin exercise modulates the hippocampal subregion structure in community-dwelling older adults with cognitive frailty

“…For example, a study reported that hippocampal subfields including cornu ammonis 1 (CA1), CA2/3 and CA4 were significantly covaried with grey matter volume in older adults with cognitive impairment compared to the normal controls (Wang et al, 2018). Another study also found that the larger left parahippocampal gyrus and right hippocampus volumes were associated with the higher physical activity ability (Domingos et al, 2021). In our previous studies, we found a significant decrease in the volume of subcortical nuclei (composing of hippocampus, thalamus, caudate, putamen, pallor and amygdala) in the CF older adults .…”