Good physical condition, the best way for women to fight against dementia? This is confirmed by a Swedish study published on March 14 in the scientific journal Neurology. The risk would even be reduced by 88%.
Over a period of 44 years, researchers at the University of Gothenburg followed 191 women aged 50 on average. Their goal is to establish a correlation between physical fitness and the risk of developing dementia as you age.
5% of physically fit women with dementia
They evaluated throughout the period the maximum cardiovascular capacity of women. Scientists also looked for symptoms of dementia six times: in 1974, 1980, 1992, 2000, 2005 and 2009. Of 191 women, 44 had dementia.
Among women in good physical condition, they were 5% to have developed the disease. The figure was 25% for moderately fit women and 32% for those with low fitness. For women forced to stop all physical activity due to cardiovascular problems, the percentage climbed to 45%.
The study also shows that women in better physical condition developed symptoms around the age of 90, an average of 11 years later than the others. Helena Hörder, lead author of the study, sees these results as a way to “delay or even prevent the development of dementia”.
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