The relationship between age and physical activity as objectively measured by accelerometers in older adults with and without dementia

Objective This study sought to investigate differences in physical activity and activity fragmentation between older adults with and without dementia and between older adults with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and older adults with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The study also sought to investigat...

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Main Authors: Karl Brown, Andrew Shutes-David, Sarah Payne, Adrienne Jankowski, Katie Wilson, Edmund Seto, Debby W Tsuang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2025-04-01
Series:Digital Health
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/20552076251330808
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author Karl Brown
Andrew Shutes-David
Sarah Payne
Adrienne Jankowski
Katie Wilson
Edmund Seto
Debby W Tsuang
author_facet Karl Brown
Andrew Shutes-David
Sarah Payne
Adrienne Jankowski
Katie Wilson
Edmund Seto
Debby W Tsuang
author_sort Karl Brown
collection DOAJ
description Objective This study sought to investigate differences in physical activity and activity fragmentation between older adults with and without dementia and between older adults with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and older adults with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The study also sought to investigate how these differences vary in magnitude at different ages. Methods Accelerometry data were analyzed from individuals with dementia ( n = 94) and individuals without dementia ( n = 613) who participated in the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS), as well as from individuals with DLB ( n = 12) and AD ( n = 10) who participated in a pilot study. Results In the NHATS cohort, individuals without dementia had more activity counts (0.325 million [95% CI 0.162 million, 0.487 million]) and a longer active bout length (0.631 minutes [95% CI 0.311, 0.952]) at the mean age of 79 than individuals with dementia at the same age. There was also suggestive evidence that individuals without dementia had a shorter resting bout length (−2.196 minutes [95% CI −4.996, 0.605]) than individuals with dementia. Differences in data collection and processing prevented direct comparisons between the cohorts, and the parallel analyses in the smaller cohort were underpowered to detect statistically significant differences between DLB and AD. Conclusion This work shows that objectively measured accelerometry data differ between individuals with and without dementia; future studies with larger samples should investigate whether accelerometry data can be used to aid in the early identification of dementia and differentiation of dementia subtypes.
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spelling doaj-art-9685193b4a0e4d0d84aa054af76a9aad2025-08-20T03:16:57ZengSAGE PublishingDigital Health2055-20762025-04-011110.1177/20552076251330808The relationship between age and physical activity as objectively measured by accelerometers in older adults with and without dementiaKarl Brown0Andrew Shutes-David1Sarah Payne2Adrienne Jankowski3Katie Wilson4Edmund Seto5Debby W Tsuang6 Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center, VISN-20, VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, WA, USA Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center, VISN-20, VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, WA, USA Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center, VISN-20, VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, WA, USA Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center, VISN-20, VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, WA, USA Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, , Seattle, WA, USA Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, , Seattle, WA, USA Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, , Seattle, WA, USAObjective This study sought to investigate differences in physical activity and activity fragmentation between older adults with and without dementia and between older adults with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and older adults with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The study also sought to investigate how these differences vary in magnitude at different ages. Methods Accelerometry data were analyzed from individuals with dementia ( n = 94) and individuals without dementia ( n = 613) who participated in the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS), as well as from individuals with DLB ( n = 12) and AD ( n = 10) who participated in a pilot study. Results In the NHATS cohort, individuals without dementia had more activity counts (0.325 million [95% CI 0.162 million, 0.487 million]) and a longer active bout length (0.631 minutes [95% CI 0.311, 0.952]) at the mean age of 79 than individuals with dementia at the same age. There was also suggestive evidence that individuals without dementia had a shorter resting bout length (−2.196 minutes [95% CI −4.996, 0.605]) than individuals with dementia. Differences in data collection and processing prevented direct comparisons between the cohorts, and the parallel analyses in the smaller cohort were underpowered to detect statistically significant differences between DLB and AD. Conclusion This work shows that objectively measured accelerometry data differ between individuals with and without dementia; future studies with larger samples should investigate whether accelerometry data can be used to aid in the early identification of dementia and differentiation of dementia subtypes.https://doi.org/10.1177/20552076251330808
spellingShingle Karl Brown
Andrew Shutes-David
Sarah Payne
Adrienne Jankowski
Katie Wilson
Edmund Seto
Debby W Tsuang
The relationship between age and physical activity as objectively measured by accelerometers in older adults with and without dementia
Digital Health
title The relationship between age and physical activity as objectively measured by accelerometers in older adults with and without dementia
title_full The relationship between age and physical activity as objectively measured by accelerometers in older adults with and without dementia
title_fullStr The relationship between age and physical activity as objectively measured by accelerometers in older adults with and without dementia
title_full_unstemmed The relationship between age and physical activity as objectively measured by accelerometers in older adults with and without dementia
title_short The relationship between age and physical activity as objectively measured by accelerometers in older adults with and without dementia
title_sort relationship between age and physical activity as objectively measured by accelerometers in older adults with and without dementia
url https://doi.org/10.1177/20552076251330808
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