Prospective associations of open and closed skill sports with midlife cognition: a 36 year follow-up

Background: Timing of physical activity (PA) in mid and later-life appears important for later life cognition although it remains unknown if particular types of activity are relevant and if participation in such activity types in early childhood may play a role.
Purpose: To assess how the timing and types of sporting-PA during childhood, adolescence, and midlife are differentially related to midlife cognitive function.
Methods: Participants were drawn from the 1970 British Cohort Study (n=6,982; 53% female). Sporting-PA frequencies were self-reported at ages 10, 16, 42, and 46. Cognition at age 46 was assessed through verbal fluency, memory, and processing speed tasks, each standardised to produce z-scores. Associations between sporting-PA at distinct life stages and midlife cognition were examined, controlling for confounders (sex, childhood IQ, socioeconomic status and childhood illness). Relationships were re-examined with activities categorised according to their cognitive demands (‘open-skill‘ (highly unpredictable/cognitively demanding) or ‘closed-skill’ (less unpredictable/cognitively demanding)) in mutually adjusted models.
Results: Higher frequency of sporting-PA at both childhood/adolescence (age 10 or 16) and adulthood (age 42 or 46) was most strongly associated with midlife cognition (β=0.26, 95%CI:0.16-0.36). Closed-skill sporting-PA at ages 16 (β=0.07, 95%CI:0.01-0.13), 42 (β=0.13, 95%CI:0.09-0.16), and 46 (β=0.13, 95%CI:0.09-0.16) were robustly associated with cognition. However, only open-skill activities at ages 42 (β=0.05, 95%CI:0.002-0.09) and 46 (β=0.05, 95%CI:0.0002-0.09) showed similar associations.
Conclusion: Sporting-PA during adolescence was linked to cognitive function over two decades later, with the strongest associations from continued engagement in adulthood. The findings underscore that adolescent sporting-PA, of a variety of subtypes may have lasting importance for cognitive function, particularly when sustained into adulthood.
Practical implications: A life course perspective which accounts for PA contexts beyond simply volume appears necessary when studying the role of PA in supporting cognitive health.
Funding: The study was funded by the MRC (MR/N013867/1) and British Heart Foundation (SP/F/20/150002).