High cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is associated with better cognitive performance and lower risk of dementia long term, including in people with a genetic predisposition to dementia.

That is a key finding from a study published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine last week (20 November). The authors include Professor Weili Xu, from the Aging Research Center, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm.

Most previous studies investigating the impact of CRF on cognitive function and dementia risk included a small number of participants. For this study, Professor Weili Xu and colleagues looked at a much larger group by accessing data on 61,214 dementia-free people aged 39-70 years who enrolled in the UK Biobank study from 2009 to 2010 and were followed for up to 12 years.