Cardiovascular Fitness and Neurocognitive Performance among Older Adults in the Maintenance Stage of Cardiac Rehabilitation.

Background: Cardiovascular fitness is associated with cognition in advanced age. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a risk factor for cognitive decline beyond the normal aging process, thus we investigated this association in CVD patients.

Method: Patients in phase III of cardiac rehabilitation were divided into high and low cardiovascular fitness groups based on their predicted peak VO2. Cognition was assessed by a battery of neuropsychological tests examining memory, attention, visual spatial function, executive function and global cognitive score.

Results: The two groups were similar on reported physical activity and on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). However, the high fitness group had significantly higher scores than the lower fitness group on attention and on the global cognitive score, and marginally significant scores on executive functioning.

Limitation: Due to the small sample size no differentiation was made among the various CVD conditions.

Conclusion: Higher cardiovascular fitness of CVD patients is associated with superior cognition - predominantly in attention and executive functioning.