Depressive symptoms as a barrier to engagement in physical activity in older adults with and without Alzheimer’s disease

OBJECTIVES: Physical activity shows promise for reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and protection against cognitive decline among individuals with and without AD. Older adults face many barriers to adoption of physically active lifestyles and people with AD face even further challenges. Physical activity is a promising non-pharmacological approach to improve depressive symptoms, but little is known about the impact of depressive symptoms as a potential barrier to engagement in physical activity. The present study aimed to investigate depressive symptoms as a potential barrier for participation in physical activity across a range of dementia severity. METHOD: We used longitudinal structural equation modelling to investigate the bi-directional relationship between depressive symptoms and physical activity in 594 older adults with and without AD over a 2 year longitudinal follow up. Participants ranged from no cognitive impairment to moderately severe AD. RESULTS: We found that depressive symptoms predicted reduced engagement in subsequent physical activity, but physical activity did not predict subsequent reductions in depressive symptoms. CONCLUSION: We conclude that depressive symptoms may be an important barrier to engagement in physical activity that may be addressed in clinical practice and intervention research.