Physical activity as a protective factor for dementia and Alzheimer's disease : systematic review, meta-analysis and quality assessment of cohort and case-control studies

Objective Physical activity (PA) is associated with a decreased incidence of dementia, but much of the evidence comes from short follow-ups prone to reverse causation. This meta-analysis investigates the effect of study length on the association. Design A systematic review and meta-analysis. Pooled effect sizes, dose-response analysis and funnel plots were used to synthesise the results. Data sources CINAHL (last search 19 October 2021), PsycInfo, Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science (21 October 2021) and SPORTDiscus (26 October 2021). Eligibility criteria Studies of adults with a prospective follow-up of at least 1 year, a valid cognitive measure or cohort in mid-life at baseline and an estimate of the association between baseline PA and follow-up all-cause dementia, Alzheimer's disease or vascular dementia were included (n=58). Results PA was associated with a decreased risk of all-cause dementia (pooled relative risk 0.80, 95% CI 0.77 to 0.84, n=257 983), Alzheimer's disease (0.86, 95% CI 0.80 to 0.93, n=128 261) and vascular dementia (0.79, 95% CI 0.66 to 0.95, n=33 870), even in longer follow-ups (>= 20 years) for all-cause dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Neither baseline age, follow-up length nor study quality significantly moderated the associations. Dose-response meta-analyses revealed significant linear, spline and quadratic trends within estimates for all-cause dementia incidence, but only a significant spline trend for Alzheimer's disease. Funnel plots showed possible publication bias for all-cause dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Conclusion PA was associated with lower incidence of all-cause dementia and Alzheimer's disease, even in longer follow-ups, supporting PA as a modifiable protective lifestyle factor, even after reducing the effects of reverse causation.Peer reviewe

Evaluatie van de milieu-impact van WArrelnet- en boomKOrvisserij op het Belgisch deel van de Noordzee (WAKO). Eindrapport

The project WAKO wants to give a first attempt to map the current knowledge and the knowledge gaps on the effects of trammel net and beam trawl fisheries for the Belgian part of the North Sea. The project focuses on three ecosystem components, i.e. benthic invertebrates, sea birds and marine mammals. The aim of this project consists of three phases: (1) compilation and analysis of existing, experimental data for the Belgian part of the North Sea on the effects of trammel net and beam trawl fisheries; (2) current knowledge on the impact of beam trawl and trammel/gill net fisheries, based on literature review and (3) evaluation of the direct effects of beam trawl and trammel/gill net fisheries on three ecosystem components, knowledge gaps and investigation of an appropriate methodology to evaluate the environmental impact of fishing gears.WAKO indicates that direct, short-term effects of trammel net and beam trawl fisheries are clearly directed to different ecosystem components. Similarities between analogous, scientific studies allow a first evaluation of the effects, but quantitative data (on both biological impact data and data related to fishing effort and distribution) are so far insufficient to allow the development of a decision support tool for environmental and fisheries management