An Assessment of Physical Activity and Risk Factors in People Living with Dementia: Findings from a Cross-Sectional...

People living with dementia (PLWD) may experience substantial cognitive decline as the disease progresses, which interferes with their daily activities. This study aimed to assess physical activity (PA) performance and care dependency (CD) and identify factors related to PA among PLWD.

We conducted a cross-sectional study in 63 PLWD from National Geriatrics Hospital, Vietnam, from 2021 to 2023. We used the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), and Care Dependency Scale (CDS) to assess the nutritional status and the levels of PA and CD, respectively. We used the Mann-Whitney test to compare the differences in the PA types and CD levels between dementia levels and a multivariable logistics regression model to analyze factors related to PA.

More than half of the subjects had mild dementia. In total, 35% of the PLWD had a low level of PA, and 46.3% were completely independent of care. The mean score in each CDS aspect of the subjects with moderate/severe dementia was statistically significantly lower than that of those with mild dementia (p ≤ 0.05). Lower dependency (OR = 0.9; 95% CI = 0.88-0.99) and malnutrition (OR = 15.4; 95% CI = 1.18-20.21) were associated with insufficient PA in the PLWD.

Formal caregivers and healthcare workers should encourage PLWD to perform physical activities at any level and personalize the development of tailored and nutritional care strategies for each individual.