Physical activity as a protective factor for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease: systematic review, meta-analysis and quality assessment of cohort and case–control studies

Physical activity (PA) is associated with a decreased incidence of dementia, but much of the evidence comes from short follow-ups prone to reverse causation. This meta-analysis investigates the effect of study length on the association.

A systematic review and meta-analysis. Pooled effect sizes, dose-response analysis and funnel plots were used to synthesise the results. DATA SOURCES: CINAHL (last search 19 October 2021), PsycInfo, Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science (21 October 2021) and SPORTDiscus (26 October 2021). ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: Studies of adults with a prospective follow-up of at least 1 year, a valid cognitive measure or cohort in mid-life at baseline and an estimate of the association between baseline PA and follow-up all-cause dementia, Alzheimer's disease or vascular dementia were included (n=58).