Trial reportClinical interventions in aging2021
Effect of 5 Years of Exercise Intervention at Different Intensities on Brain Structure in Older Adults from the General Population: A Generation 100 Substudy.
Trial report in Clinical interventions in aging, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Aerobic exercise training effects on hippocampal volume in healthy older individuals: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.GeroScience · 2024Pooled it
- Long-Term Effects of a 5-Year Randomized Controlled Exercise Trial on Brain Volumes and Cognitive Function in Older Adults: A 4-Year Post-Intervention Follow-Up Study.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Trial
- No long-term benefits from resistance training on brain grey matter volumes in active older adults at retirement age.BMC geriatrics · 2025Trial
- Hippocampal neurochemicals are associated with exercise group and intensity, psychological health, and general cognition in older adults.GeroScience · 2023Trial
- Physical exercise as a therapeutic strategy in animal models of Alzheimer's disease: Molecular, behavioral, and histopathological evidence.Biochemistry and biophysics reports · 2026Review
- Growth of White Matter Signal Aberrations and Cortical Changes in Men and Women: A 9-Year Multiple-Time-Point Longitudinal MRI Study in Older Adults.Human brain mapping · 2026Article
- Joint effects of sleep behaviors and physical activity on brain structure and cognitive function.Fundamental research · 2026Article
- Association between physical activity and cognitive impairment in Chinese older adults: A cross‑sectional study.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2026Article
- Participation and engagement in online cognitive testing.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Article
- Association of Kidney Function With Dementia and Structural Brain Differences: A Large Population-Based Cohort Study.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2024Article
- Cardiorespiratory fitness, hippocampal subfield morphology, and episodic memory in older adults.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2024Article
- Prolonged moderate to vigorous physical activity may lead to a decline in cognitive performance: a Mendelian randomization study.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2024Article
- Trajectories of occupational physical activity and risk of later-life mild cognitive impairment and dementia: the HUNT4 70+ study.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2023Article
- Relevance of the anterior cingulate cortex volume and personality in motivated physical activity behaviors.Communications biology · 2023Article
- Associations between everyday activities and arterial spin labeling-derived cerebral blood flow: A longitudinal study in community-dwelling elderly volunteers.Human brain mapping · 2023Article
- Association between Physical Activity Levels and Brain Volumes in Adults Visiting Radio-Imaging Center of Tertiary Care Hospital.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Article
- Effects of exercise types on white matter microstructure in late midlife adults: Preliminary results from a diffusion tensor imaging study.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2022Article
- Effects of a 5-Year Exercise Intervention on White Matter Microstructural Organization in Older Adults. A Generation 100 Substudy.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThe aim was to examine the effect of a 5-year exercise intervention at different intensities on brain structure in older adults from the general population partaking in the randomized controlled trial Generation 100 Study. PARTICIPANTS AND
methodsGeneration 100 Study participants were invited to a longitudinal neuroimaging study before randomization. A total of 105 participants (52 women, 70-77 years) volunteered. Participants were randomized into supervised exercise twice a week performing high intensity interval training in 4×4 intervals at ~90% peak heart rate (HIIT, n = 33) or 50 minutes of moderate intensity continuous training at ~70% of peak heart rate (MICT, n = 24). The control group (n = 48) followed the national physical activity guidelines of ≥30 min physical activity daily. Brain MRI at 3T, clinical and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), measured as peak oxygen uptake, were collected at baseline, and after 1, 3, and 5 years of intervention. Brain volumes and cortical thickness were derived from T1 weighted 3D MRI data using FreeSurfer. The effect of HIIT or MICT on brain volumes over time was investigated with linear mixed models, while linear regressions examined the effect of baseline CRF on brain volumes at later time points.
resultsAdherence in each group was between 79 and 94% after 5 years. CRF increased significantly in all groups during the first year. Compared to controls, the HIIT group had significantly increased hippocampal atrophy located to CA1 and hippocampal body, though within normal range, and the MICT group greater thalamic atrophy. No other effects of intervention group were found. CRF across the intervention was not associated with brain structure, but CRF at baseline was positively associated with cortical volume at all later time points.
conclusionHigher baseline CRF reduced 5-year cortical atrophy rate in older adults, while following physical activity guidelines was associated with the lowest hippocampal and thalamic atrophy rates.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.