WOMEN WHO ARE ULTRA-FIT in middle age have a 90% lower risk of developing dementia, according to a Swedish study carried out over more than 40 years.
Researchers from the University of Gothenburg measured cardiovascular fitness levels, with a bicycle exercise test, in 191 women aged 38 to 61 in 1968. The study then followed up their dementia incidence until 2009. During this period, only 5% of the super-fit women were diagnosed with dementia, compared with 25% in the moderately fit group and 32% of the low fitness group. The ultra-fit women who did get dementia developed it at much later stage (11 years) in life than the women in the two other groups. The authors stress that no cause and effect relationship has been established – just an association – but the results are interesting enough to warrant more research.