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The Association Between Weight Status, Weight History, Physical Activity, and Cognitive Task Performance

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Abstract

Purpose

Physical activity has been shown to attenuate the association between overweight/obesity and deleterious cardiovascular health-related outcomes, with emerging work also taking the duration of overweight/obesity into consideration. No previous work, however, has explored the interrelationships between physical activity, obesity, and obesity duration in the context of cognitive task performance, which was the purpose of this study.

Method

Data from the 1999–2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were used (N = 2322 adults 60–85 yrs). Physical activity was assessed via self-report, with body mass index (BMI) directly measured. Participants were classified into one of eight mutually exclusive groups: (0) normal weight now and 10 years ago and active now (n = 195), (1) normal weight and 10 years ago and inactive now (n = 265), (2) normal weight now but not 10 years ago and active now (n = 46), (3) normal weight now but not 10 years ago and inactive now (n = 123), (4) overweight/obese now but not 10 years ago and active now (n = 117), (5) overweight/obese now but not 10 years ago and inactive now (n = 168), (6) overweight/obese now and 10 years ago and active now (n = 435), and (7) overweight/obese now and 10 years ago and inactive now (n = 973). The digit symbol substitution test (DSST) was employed to assess cognitive task performance.

Results

After adjustments, only individuals who were inactive (groups 1, 3, 5, and 7) had significantly lower cognitive task performance.

Conclusion

Being inactive, regardless of weight classification and duration of overweight/obesity, was inversely associated with cognitive task performance in this national sample of older adults.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health, Exercise Science and Recreation Management, Physical Activity Epidemiology Laboratory, Exercise Psychology Laboratory, The University of Mississippi, 229 Turner Center, University, MS, 38677, USA

    Meghan K. Edwards & Paul D. Loprinzi

  2. Department of Health, Exercise Science, and Recreation Management, Kevser Ermin Applied Physiology Laboratory, The University of Mississippi, University, MS, USA

    Scott J. Dankel & Jeremy P. Loenneke

Authors
  1. Meghan K. Edwards
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  2. Scott J. Dankel
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  3. Jeremy P. Loenneke
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  4. Paul D. Loprinzi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paul D. Loprinzi.

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No funding was used to prepare this manuscript.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Edwards, M.K., Dankel, S.J., Loenneke, J.P. et al. The Association Between Weight Status, Weight History, Physical Activity, and Cognitive Task Performance. Int.J. Behav. Med. 24, 473–479 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-016-9621-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-016-9621-4

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