A systematic review and meta-analysis of the relationship between midlife physical activity and later-life cognition: Is sex an overlooked factor?
72.2-84.7%). Pooled effects were not significant for executive functions (d = 0.09, -0.16-0.34) or verbal fluency (d = - 0.03, 95% CI: -0.21-0.16). Midlife PA showed modest, albeit population-meaningful associations with higher later-life global cognition, episodic memory, and processing speed. Future cohorts should standardize and incorporate objective PA metrics and ensure inclusion of sex-stratified estimates to clarify dose-response and sex-specific effects.
Authors
- Joel S. Burma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9756-5793)
- Devanshi Zala (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4088-7203)
- N. Rodríguez-Espinosa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3646-7660)
- Paul E. Ronksley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3958-7561)
- Cindy K. Barha (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3149-5539)
- Milan Chang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3556-3810)
- Cara L. Carty
- Alden Gross
- Sarah James
- K.Alix Hayden
- Kristine Yaffe
- Hannah Cheung
- Jansie H. Nel
- Dakota Hofforth
- Emmanuelle Kesse-Guyot
Institutions
- Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (FR)
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- Inserm (FR)
- University of Calgary (CA)
- University of California, San Francisco (US)
- South Health Campus (CA)
- Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de Candelaria (ES)
- Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR)
- O'Brien Institute (AU)
- Université Sorbonne Paris Nord (FR)
- Sorbonne Paris Cité (FR)
- Administration of Occupational Safety and Health (IS)
- MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing (GB)
- The Icelandic Physiotherapy Association (IS)
- Centre de Recherche Épidémiologie et Statistique (FR)
- University College London (GB)
- Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta (CA)
- Washington State University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology
- Published
- 2026-04-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yfrne.2026.101250
- Primary Topic
- Physical Activity and Health
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Weston Family Foundation
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research