Association of Physical Activity and Cognitive Activity With Disability: A 2-Year Prospective Cohort Study.

Participants were recruited nonrandomly from a community health check, so the results may not apply to all older adults. Many people were excluded, including those with stroke, dementia, Parkinson disease, cognitive impairment, cane use, inability to walk, strong knee pain, or invalid accelerometer data. The analyzed group was relatively healthy, with mean gait speed 1.25 m/s, so the disability rate may be lower than in a less selected older population. Follow-up was at least 2 years, which the authors say may be too short to observe disability onset. Disability was defined broadly as certification for care or support, which makes it difficult to tell which specific function was affected. The study had too few participants with lower gait speed (less than 0.8 m/s; n = 26) to analyze that subgroup.

The paper states that the funders played no role in the design, conduct, and reporting of this study. No further conflict-of-interest declaration appears in the supplied text.

Do not conclude that cognitive activity alone prevents disability. The low physical activity and high cognitive activity group did not differ significantly from the low physical activity and low cognitive activity group, and after adjustment for gait speed only the high physical activity and high cognitive activity group was associated with lower disability onset.