EXAMINING THE PUBLIC HEALTH RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND COGNITIVE FUNCTION IN OLDER ADULTS

Abstract

This research explored the connection between physical activity and cognitive functioning in Indian older people, a low-resource, diverse environment in which lifestyle decisions diverge markedly from those of high-income nations. We modelled this association, controlling for putative confounders, and assessed gender differences. Employing nationwide data from the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (2017-2018), we used propensity score matching (PSM) to investigate the relationship. Cognitive functioning was measured over five domains, namely memory, orientation, arithmetic function, executive function, and object naming. Our final data set included 31,464 participants aged 60 years or older, 16,366 men and 15,098 women.  After controlling for a range of personal, health, lifestyle, and household variables, our findings indicated that older adults who were physically active had better cognitive functioning than those who were not, with this relationship being seen in both older men and women. Particularly, the PSM analysis identified that physically active women and men in regular physical activities had statistically improved cognitive function scores with an improvement of 0.98 points and 1.32 points, respectively. These observations indicated that physical exercise could play an important role to improve cognitive function in old individuals. Regular physical activity, then, is one of the great lifestyle components useful for maintaining normal cognitive aging.