Cardiorespiratory fitness, independent of APOE genotype, is associated with better neurocognitive function in older adults: An ERP study

This study assessed the association between cardiorespiratory fitness and carriage of the apolipoprotein-E ε4 (APOE ε4) alleles and cognitive function using behavioral and neuroelectric measures obtained from cognitively normal older adults. A total of 159 adults aged 50–70 years were categorized into four groups based on cardiorespiratory fitness (i.e., higher vs. lower fitness) and the APOE genotype status (i.e., APOE ε4 carrier vs. non-carrier). Neurocognitive functions were indexed using response time and accuracy measures from the Stroop task and averaged mean P3 amplitudes of event-related potentials obtained during task performance. A significant main effect of cardiorespiratory fitness (p =.01) and the Stroop congruency (p <.001), but not the APOE genotype status, with shorter response times for the higher fitness group than for the lower fitness group and for the congruent condition relative to the incongruent condition, were observed. Similar findings were also revealed, with larger averaged mean P3 amplitudes for the higher fitness group than those in the lower fitness group, and in the congruent condition than in the incongruent condition. These findings suggest that higher cardiorespiratory fitness is linked to better neurocognitive function, and the positive association is evident regardless of the APOE ε4 status and the cognitive domain assessed in cognitively normal older adults.