Using MRI, researchers from Boston University School of Medicine found that people with poor physical fitness in their 40s may have lower brain volumes by the time they hit age 60.
The results suggest that ignoring their certain health and risk factors in midlife could lead to accelerated brain aging, according to lead author Nicole Spartano, PhD, and colleagues. The study was presented on Wednesday at the American Heart Association (AHA) EPI/Lifestyle 2015 meeting.
A subset of 1,271 participants in the Framingham Offspring Study participated in exercise treadmill testing in the 1970s at an average age of 41. Subjects had no indication of heart disease or cognitive problems at the time and were not taking medication that affects heart rate.
When the average age of the participants was 60 years, they underwent MRI of the brain, along with cognitive testing.
Subjects who had a lower fitness level or greater increase in diastolic blood pressure or heart rate a few minutes into a low-intensity treadmill test (2.5 miles an hour) had smaller brain tissue volume later in life, the researchers found. Those with a larger increase in diastolic blood pressure during low-intensity exercise also performed more poorly on a cognitive test for decision-making function later in life.
In addition, a higher resting systolic blood pressure at age 40 was associated with smaller frontal lobe volume and a greater volume of white-matter hyperintensity -- indicating a loss of blood flow with aging -- on the later brain MRIs.
