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Updated: Jul 3, 2026

Using a Real-Time Locating System to Measure Walking Activity Associated with Wandering Behaviors Among Institutionalized Older Adults
Published on: February 8, 2019
Total daily activity is associated with cognition in older persons
Aron S Buchman1, Robert S Wilson, David A Bennett
1Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL 60612, USA. aron_s_buchman@rush.edu
Objectives:
The authors tested the hypothesis that total daily physical activity is related to the level of cognition in older persons.
Design:
Cross-sectional study.
Setting:
Retirement communities across the Chicago metropolitan area.
Participants:
Five hundred twenty-one older persons without dementia.
Measurements:
Participants underwent structured evaluation of cognition and objective measures of total daily physical activity were collected using actigraphy.
Results:
In a linear regression model adjusted for age, sex, and education, total daily activity was associated with a global measure of cognition. By contrast, self-report physical activity was not associated with cognition. Further analyses showed that total daily activity was related to all five cognitive subscales.
Conclusions:
Objective measures of total daily physical activity were associated with a broad range of cognitive abilities in older persons. These findings support the link between physical activity and cognition in the elderly.
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