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Original research
Exploring the associations of daily movement behaviours and mid-life cognition: a compositional analysis of the 1970 British Cohort Study
  1. John J Mitchell1,
  2. Joanna M Blodgett2,
  3. Sebastien FM Chastin3,
  4. Barbara J Jefferis1,
  5. S Goya Wannamethee1,
  6. Mark Hamer2
  1. 1 Primary Care and Population Health, University College London, London, UK
  2. 2 Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health, University College London, London, UK
  3. 3 School of Health and Life Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK
  1. Correspondence to John J Mitchell, Primary Care and Population Health, University College London, London, UK; john.mitchell.12{at}ucl.ac.uk

Abstract

Background Movement behaviours (eg, sedentary behaviour (SB), moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA), light intensity physical activity (LIPA) and sleep) are linked to cognition, yet the relative importance of each component is unclear, and not yet explored with compositional methodologies.

Objective To (i) assess the associations of different components of daily movement and participant’s overall cognition, memory and executive function, and (ii) understand the relative importance of each individual component for cognition.

Methods The 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) is a prospective birth cohort study of UK-born adults. At age 46, participants consented to wear an accelerometer device and complete tests of verbal memory and executive function. Compositional linear regression was used to examine cross-sectional associations between 24-hour movement behaviours and standardised cognition scores. Isotemporal substitution was performed to model the effect of reallocating time between components of daily movement on cognition.

Results The sample comprised 4481 participants (52% female). Time in MVPA relative to SB, LIPA and sleep was positively associated with cognition after adjustments for education and occupational physical activity, but additional adjustment for health status attenuated associations. SB relative to all other movements was robustly positively associated with cognition. Modelling time reallocation between components revealed an increase in cognition centile after MVPA theoretically replaced 9 min of SB (OR=1.31; 95% CI 0.09 to 2.50), 7 min of LIPA (1.27; 0.07 to 2.46) or 7 min of sleep (1.20; 0.01 to 2.39).

Conclusions Relative to time spent in other behaviours, greater MVPA and SB was associated with higher cognitive scores. Loss of MVPA time, given its smaller relative amount, appears most deleterious. Efforts should be made to preserve MVPA time, or reinforce it in place of other behaviours.

  • SLEEP
  • EXERCISE
  • COGNITION
  • DEMENTIA
  • AGING

Data availability statement

Original study protocol and survey documents can be found online at: https://bcs70.info/ and access to this data is available through the UK data service: UK Data Service › Series

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2022-219829

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    Data availability statement

    Original study protocol and survey documents can be found online at: https://bcs70.info/ and access to this data is available through the UK data service: UK Data Service › Series

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    Footnotes

    • Twitter @JonJonJonJoseph, @blodgettjm

    • Contributors MH and JMB conceived the study. JJM, JMB and SFMC conducted analyses and drafted the initial manuscript. BJJ, SGW and MH revised the manuscript. All authors contributed to the final manuscript. JJM is responsible for the overall content and publication.

    • Funding Medical Research Council (MR/N013867/1); British Heart Foundation (SP/15/6/31397, SP/F/20/150002).

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.