Cognitive performance and physical fitness in the health of brazilian elderly women

Abstract

This study investigated the association between cognitive performance and cardiorespiratory capacity, strength, body mass and body composition of Brazilian elderly women. The sample was composed by 44 Brazilian elderly women, 31 cognitively healthy and 13 with cognitive decline. In the cognitively healthy group, dominant hand grip strength was correlated with Stroop condition 3 performance, ACE-R Total and in verbal fluency and language subdomains. In cognitive decline group, correlations were observed between non-dominant hand grip strength and Stroop condition 3 and; VO2 cardiorespiratory capacity with the RAVLT learning curve in ACE-R Total and attention, language and visuospatial subdomains. These findings indicate that the relationship between cognitive and physiological measures in Brazilian elderly women is also moderated by cognitive health. On neuropsychological field physical and cognitive measures could be combined for successful aging.