BACKGROUND: Aerobic exercise remains one of the most promising approaches for enhancing cognitive function in late adulthood, yet its potential positive effects on episodic memory remain poorly understood and a matter of intense debate. Prior meta-analyses have reported minimal improvements in episodic memory following aerobic exercise but have been limited by restrictive inclusion criteria and infrequent examination of exercise parameters. METHODS: We conducted a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials to determine if aerobic exercise influences episodic memory in late adulthood (M 70.82 years) and examine possible moderators. Thirty-six studies met inclusion criteria, representing data from 2750 participants. RESULTS: Here we show that aerobic exercise interventions are effective at improving episodic memory (Hedges'g = 0.28; p = 0.002). Subgroup analyses revealed a moderating effect of age (p = 0.027), with a significant effect for studies with a mean age between 55 to 68 but not 69 to 85. Mixed-effects analyses demonstrated a positive effect on episodic memory among studies with a high percentage of females (65 to 100%), participants with normal cognition, studies reporting intensity, studies with a no-contact or nonaerobic physical activity control group, and studies prescribing > 3900 total minutes of activity (range 540 to 8190 min). CONCUSIONS: Aerobic exercise positively influences episodic memory among adults >= 55 years without dementia, with larger effects observed among various sample and intervention characteristics-the clearest moderator being age. These results could have far-reaching clinical and public health relevance, highlighting aerobic exercise as an accessible, non-pharmaceutical intervention to improve episodic memory in late adulthood.

Full text (sometimes free) may be available at these link(s):      help

• PubMed Central
• DOI
• PubMed
• PDF locator
• publisher