Sex differences in the associations between cardiorespiratory fitness determinants and cognitive functions in older with cardiovascular risk factors
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Abstract Background The link between VO2max and cognition in older adults with cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs) remains unclear, especially regarding sex differences. Previous findings suggest that cardiac determinants of VO2max primarily influence executive functions (EF) and processing speed (PS). Understanding these sex-specific differences may enhance personalized approaches to cognition and fitness. Purpose This study examined sex differences in the associations between ventilatory, cardiac, and peripheral determinants of VO2max and cognitive functions in older adults with CVRFs. We hypothesized that these associations would vary by sex. Methods 204 participants (148 women and 56 men, 70±6 years) with CVRFs underwent a maximal cardiopulmonary exercise test with gas exchange analyses and cardiac hemodynamic measurements by impedance cardiography. VO2max determinants, included ventilatory (alveolar ventilation (VA), oxygen uptake efficiency slope (OUES), minute ventilation/carbon dioxide slope (VE/VCO2)), cardiac (cardiac power (CP), cardiac index (CI)) and peripheral determinants (ratio of the increase in oxygen uptake to the increase in work rate (VO2/Watts), arteriovenous difference in O2 (C(a-v)O2)) were calculated. EF and PS were assessed via the DSST, TMT and Stroop tests. Multiple regressions adjusted for age and education between all VO2max determinants and cognitive functions were performed separately for women and men. Results In women, Stroop naming was associated with VA (p<.01), OUES (p<.05), CI (p<.001), and C(a-v)O2 (p<.001, R²=.32). In men, it was linked to VE/VCO2 (p<.01) and C(a-v)O2 (p<.05, R²=.30). Stroop reading was associated with C(a-v)O2 (p<.05, R²=.41) in men, with no associations in women. Stroop inhibition was linked to CI (p<.05) and C(a-v)O2 (p<.05, R²=.21) in women and to OUES (p<.05, R²=.34) in men. Stroop switching was associated with VE/VCO2 (p<.05) and C(a-v)O2 (p<.05, R²=.35) in women, with no significant predictors in men. PS, assessed with the DSST, was linked to VA (p<.05), OUES (p<.05), and VO2/Watts (p<.05, R²=.49) in men, with no associations in women. For TMT A, OUES (p<.05) and CI (p<.05, R²=.47) were predictors in men, with no associations in women. TMT B was linked to OUES (p<.05) and CP (p<.05, R²=.29) in women, and to CP in men (p<.01, R²=.40). Conclusion Sex-specific patterns were observed between VO2max determinants and cognition. In women, all determinants except VA and VO2/Watts were predictors of EF, while in men EF was linked to CP and OUES. For PS, ventilatory (VA, OUES), cardiac (CI), and peripheral (C(a-v)O2) determinants were associated in women, while in men PS was linked to all determinants. These findings highlight the importance of considering sex-specific differences in the associations between VO2max determinants and cognition, offering valuable insights for developing individualized exercise interventions to maintain and improve cognition in older adults with CVRFs.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame distilled prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. Learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and 10,348 direct Gemma labels. Candidate is the union of thresholded teacher heads; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels or direct frontier model labels.
Codex and Gemma teacher scores by category
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.004 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one teacher head, not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".