Midlife physical activity is associated with lower incidence of vascular dementia but not Alzheimer’s disease

Table 4 Association between midlife physical activity and incident dementia in the MDCS cohort

	All-cause dementia	p	Vascular dementia	p	Alzheimer’s dementia	p
	HR (95% CI)	p	HR (95% CI)	p	HR (95% CI)	p
Physical activity
Model 1	1373 events		300 events		832 events
Low (reference)	1		1		1
Intermediate	0.99 (0.87–1.12)	0.84	0.87 (0.66–1.14)	0.30	1.01 (0.85–1.19)	0.95
High	0.90 (0.79–1.02)	0.11	0.63 (0.48–0.84)	0.002	1.04 (0.88–1.23)	0.64
Model 2	1341 events		293 events		815 events
Low (reference)	1		1		1
Intermediate	0.97 (0.85–1.11)	0.68	0.88 (0.67–1.16)	0.36	0.98 (0.82–1.16)	0.79
High	0.90 (0.79–1.03)	0.11	0.65 (0.49–0.87)	0.003	1.03 (0.87–1.22)	0.75
Excluding dementia cases < 5 years
Model 1	1204 events		270 events		714 events
Low (reference)	1		1		1
Intermediate	1.02 (0.89–1.18)	0.75	0.92 (0.69–1.22)	0.55	1.06 (0.88–1.28)	0.54
High	0.95 (0.83–1.09)	0.47	0.65 (0.48–0.88)	0.005	1.14 (0.95–1.37)	0.16
Model 2	1172 events		263 events		697 events
Low (reference)	1		1		1
Intermediate	1.01 (0.88–1.17)	0.85	0.93 (0.70–1.24)	0.63	1.04 (0.86–1.25)	0.71
High	0.96 (0.83–1.10)	0.53	0.66 (0.49–0.90)	0.008	1.14 (0.95–1.37)	0.16

Association between midlife physical activity and incident dementia in the MDCS cohort, based on self-reported physical activity at two different occasions in midlife categorized as low, intermediate, or high activity group. Cox regression models showing hazard ratio (HR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) per physical activity group for risk of all-cause dementia, vascular dementia, or Alzheimer’s dementia, respectively. Number of events per model is presented for transparency, since we used complete case analyses. Model 1 adjusted for age, sex, and education. Model 2 adjusted for age, sex, education, smoking, systolic blood pressure, body mass index, alcohol consumption, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, blood pressure-lowering medication, lipid-lowering medication, and physically heavy work

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