Walking Time Is Associated With Hippocampal Volume in Overweight and Obese Office Workers

Frida Bergman, Tove Matsson-Frost, Lars Jonasson, Elin Chorell, Ann Sörlin, Patrik Wennberg, Fredrik Öhberg, Mats Ryberg, James A Levine, Tommy Olsson, Carl-Johan Boraxbekk, Frida Bergman, Tove Matsson-Frost, Lars Jonasson, Elin Chorell, Ann Sörlin, Patrik Wennberg, Fredrik Öhberg, Mats Ryberg, James A Levine, Tommy Olsson, Carl-Johan Boraxbekk

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the long-term effects on cognition and brain function after installing treadmill workstations in offices for 13 months. Methods: Eighty healthy overweight or obese office workers aged 40-67 years were individually randomized to an intervention group, receiving a treadmill workstation and encouraging emails, or to a control group, continuing to work as usual. Effects on cognitive function, hippocampal volume, prefrontal cortex (PFC) thickness, and circulating brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) were analyzed. Further, mediation analyses between changes in walking time and light-intensity physical activity (LPA) on changes in BDNF and hippocampal volume between baseline and 13 months, and multivariate analyses of the baseline data with percentage sitting time as the response variable, were performed. Results: No group by time interactions were observed for any of the outcomes. In the mediation analyses, positive associations between changes in walking time and LPA on changes in hippocampal volume were observed, although not mediated by changes in BDNF levels. In the multivariate analyses, a negative association between percentage sitting time and hippocampal volume was observed, however only among those older than 51 years of age. Conclusion: Although no group by time interactions were observed, our analyses suggest that increased walking and LPA may have positive effects on hippocampal volume and that sedentary behavior is associated with brain structures of importance for memory functions. Trial Registration: www.ClinicalTrials.gov as NCT01997970.

Keywords: brain function; cognition; office work; physical activity; randomized controlled trial; sedentary behavior.

Copyright © 2020 Bergman, Matsson-Frost, Jonasson, Chorell, Sörlin, Wennberg, Öhberg, Ryberg, Levine, Olsson and Boraxbekk.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Estimated means (SEM) of z-standardized scores for the different cognitive domains episodic memory (A), executive function (B), working memory (C), processing speed (D), and for the composite cognitive score (E). The cognitive score was derived from combining the different cognitive domains. **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 within-group difference from baseline.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Relationship between changes in walking time and Hippocampus (A) and changes in light-intensity physical activity (LPA) and Hippocampus (B) between baseline and 13 months, as mediated by changes in BDNF between baseline and 13 months. Beta-values along with standardized coefficients (z-values within parentheses) are reported, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(A) Two separate OPLS models describing baseline associations between measures of brain and cognitive functions and percentage sitting time in participants younger (y-axis) and older than 51 years (x-axis). A complete list of variables included in the OPLS-models is presented in the Supplementary Material. (B) Univariate linear regression analysis between hippocampal volume and percentage sitting time among participants younger than 51 years. (C) Univariate linear regression analysis between hippocampal volume and percentage sitting time among participants older than 51 years. OPLS, orthogonal partial least squares; pcorr = correlation scaled OPLS weights, i.e., multivariate association to percent sitting time. ACC, anterior cingulate cortex; dLPFC, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; vLPFC, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex.

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