Characteristics of physical activity, life-space mobility, and mental function in Japanese nonagenarians with normal cognitive function

Research Objectives: To investigate the characteristics of physical activity, life space mobility, and mental functions of normal cognitive functions in Japanese nonagenarians.

Design: Cross-sectional study. Mann-Whitney U tests and Spearman correlations were used to analyze the data. The study protocols were approved by the Sapporo Medical University Ethics Committee (code: 1-2-30).

Setting: Community.

Participants: Volunteer samples. Cognitive normal nonagenarians who are registered with a donor society of Sapporo Medical University “Shiragiku-kai”(N=39). Participants with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Japanese version (MoCA-J) scores of 24 or higher were defined as normal cognitive functions (NC) group (N=16), and those with MoCA-J score of 23 or lower were defined as mild cognitive impairment (MCI) group (N=23).

Interventions: Not applicable.

Main Outcome Measures: Differences in the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form Total METS (IPAQ), the Life space assessment (LSA), The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), the Philadelphia Geriatric Center morale scale (PGC), the Lubben Social Network Scale Revised (LSNS-R), number of diseases and drugs between the SC group and NC group. Correlation coefficients between the MoCA-J and IPAQ, LSA, GDS, PGC, LSNS-R, and a number of diseases and drugs, respectively.

Results: IPAQ was significantly higher in the NC group compared to those in the MCI group (p=.020). All other measures had no significant differences between the two groups. The correlations between the MoCA-J and the IPAQ (rs=.345, p=.031), and the LSA (rs=.450, p=.004) were significant, respectively. All other measures were not correlated with the MoCA-J.

Conclusions: These preliminary results indicate that the nonagenarians with normal cognitive functions had higher physical activity, compared with those who were MCI. Normal cognitive function of nonagenarians was associated with the level of physical activity and life-space mobility, but not depression, subjective well-being, loneliness, or illness.

Author(s) Disclosures: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.