Effect of 24-Month Physical Activity on Cognitive Frailty and the Role of Inflammation: The Life Randomized Clinical Trial

Zuyun Liu , Yale University
Fang-Chi Hsu, Wake Forest University
Andrea Trombetti, Geneva University
Abby King, Stanford University
Christine Liu, Tufts University
Todd Manini, University of Florida
Roger Fielding, Tufts University
Marco Pahor, University of Florida
Anne Newman, University of Pittsburgh
Stephen Kritchevsky, Wake Forest University
Thomas Gill, Yale University

Whether physical activity—an important lifestyle can reduce cognitive frailty and whether the effect of physical activity differs based on levels of inflammation are unknown. We used data of 1,298 participants who had cognitive frailty and IL-6 assessments at baseline, from the LIFE Study, a multicenter, single blinded randomized trial. The main outcome was cognitive frailty at 24 months. The ordinal logistic regression model revealed that participants in the physical activity group had 21% lower odds (OR 0.79; 95%CI 0.64-0.98) of worsening cognitive frailty over 24 months than those in the health education group. The effect of physical activity on cognitive frailty did not differ according to baseline IL-6 levels (P for interaction= 0.919). In summary, a 24-month structured, moderate-intensity physical activity program reduced cognitive frailty compared with a health education program in sedentary older persons, and this beneficial effect did not differ according to baseline levels of inflammatory biomarker IL-6.

See paper

 Presented in Session 5. Health & Mortality 1