Association between central adiposity and cognitive function attenuated by adjustment for physical activity
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Physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness are predictors of cognitive function. A relationship between central adiposity and cognitive function was demonstrated in previous studies though only few studies have adjusted for cardiovascular disease and risk factors and none for physical activity. This cross-sectional study had been designed to examine the association between anthropometric measures of central adiposity and cognitive function after adjusting for cardiovascular risk factors and disease as well as for long-term self-reported physical activity level. A total of 917 stroke- and dementia-free community-dwelling adults from the Maine-Syracuse Study underwent cognitive function tests. Waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio were inversely related to multiple cognitive domains, e.g. a 20-cm increment in waist circumference was associated with a 0.14 SD decrement in the Global Composite score. After adjusting for cardiovascular risk factors, these relations were attenuated. However, when further adjusting for physical activity level, only waist circumference remained significantly associated with performance on the Similarities test. In conclusion, measures of central adiposity predict cognitive function independently of associated cardiovascular risk factors and events. However, the association between central obesity and cognitive function is attenuated to a large extent when adjusting for physical activity level. Physical activity and/or cardiorespiratory fitness are thus potential covariates in studies relating measures of central adiposity to cognitive function.
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