Exercise interventions preserve hippocampal volume: A meta-analysis

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Hippocampus
• Personal Author:
  Wilckens, Kristine A. ; Stillman, Chelsea M. ; Waiwood, Aashna M. ; Kang, Chaeryon ; Leckie, Regina L. ; Peven, Jamie C. ; Foust, Jill E. ; Fraundorf, Scott H. ; Erickson, Kirk I.
• Description:
  Hippocampal volume is a marker of brain health and is reduced with aging and neurological disease. Exercise may be effective at increasing and preserving hippocampal volume, potentially serving as a treatment for conditions associated with hippocampal atrophy (e.g., dementia). This meta-analysis aimed to identify whether exercise training has a positive effect on hippocampal volume and how population characteristics and exercise parameters moderate this effect. Studies met the following criteria: (a) controlled trials; (b) interventions of physical exercise; (c) included at least one time-point of hippocampal volume data before the intervention and one after; (d) assessed hippocampal volume using either manual or automated segmentation algorithms. Animal studies, voxel-based morphometry analyses, and multi-modal interventions (e.g., cognitive training or meditation) were excluded. The primary analysis in n = 23 interventions from 22 published studies revealed a significant positive effect of exercise on total hippocampal volume. The overall effect was significant in older samples (65 years of age or older) and in interventions that lasted over 24 weeks and had less than 150 min per week of exercise. These findings suggest that moderate amounts of exercise for interventions greater than 6 months have a positive effect on hippocampal volume including in older populations vulnerable to hippocampal atrophy.
• Subjects:
  Aged Atrophy Cognition Disorders Exercise Exercise Therapy Hippocampus Humans Infant
• Keywords:
  Aging Hippocampus Magnetic Resonance Imaging Physical Activity
• Source:
  Hippocampus. 31(3):335-347
• Pubmed ID:
  33315276
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC11497212
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  P30 AG024827/AG/NIA NIH HHSUnited States/ ; K01 AG049879/AG/NIA NIH HHSUnited States/ ; R01 AG060741/AG/NIA NIH HHSUnited States/ ; T32 HL007560/HL/NHLBI NIH HHSUnited States/ ; R01 AG068001/AG/NIA NIH HHSUnited States/ ; R01 AG053952/AG/NIA NIH HHSUnited States/ ; T42 OH008438/OH/NIOSH CDC HHSUnited States/ ; T32 MH019986/MH/NIMH NIH HHSUnited States/ ; L30 MH104747/MH/NIMH NIH HHSUnited States/ ; R01 DK095172/DK/NIDDK NIH HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  31
• Issue:
  3
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:22c24dc9884df86a653daf0bcd52e678af9acde7c186f24f30adde24efae6f668093bc96be8b32085270f651a61ab4d4ec29c676c6177d3b40c48c41e85f72be
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/168520/cdc_168520_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 755.24 KB ]