Prospective associations between physical activity levels and white matter integrity in older adults: results from the MAPT study

Aging is associated with a decline in white matter (WM) microstructural integrity [1], which, in turn, is associated with a decrease in cognition [2], Alzheimer ’s Disease [3] and dementia [4]. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) derived from functional MRI is the main tool for measuring the integrity of WM fibers; DTI provides values of fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) [5], which provide an overall indication of brain function [5]. In line with this, decreased WM integrity is associated with worsened executive functioning [6], executive speed [6] and even slow gait speed [7].

Source: Maturitas - April 22, 2020 Category: Primary Care Authors: Mathieu Maltais, Yves Rolland, Katherine Boisvert-Vigneault, Lisa Perus, Jean-Fran çois Mangin, Antoine Grigis, Marie Chupin, Ali Bouyahia, Audrey Gabelle, Julien Delrieux, Bruno Vellas, Barreto Philipe de Souto Source Type: research