Effects of current exercise and diet on late-life cognitive health of former college football players.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the relative influence of current exercise and diet on the late-life cognitive health of former Division I collision-sport collegiate athletes (ie, football players) compared with noncollision-sport athletes and non-athletes. METHODS: Graduates (n = 400) of a Midwestern university (average age, 64.09 years; standard deviation, 13.32) completed a self-report survey to assess current demographics/physical characteristics, exercise, diet, cognitive difficulties, and physical and mental health. RESULTS: Former football players reported more cognitive difficulties, as well as worse physical and mental health than controls. Among former football players, greater intake of total and saturated fat and cholesterol and lower overall diet quality were significantly correlated with cognitive difficulties; current dietary intake was not associated with cognitive health for the noncollision-sport athletes or nonathletes. Hierarchical regressions predicting cognitive difficulties indicated that income was positively associated with fewer cognitive difficulties and predicted 8% of the variance; status as a former football player predicted an additional 2% of the variance; and the interaction between being a football player and total dietary fat intake significantly predicted an additional 6% of the total variance (total model predicted 16% of variance). Greater intake of dietary fat was associated with increased cognitive difficulties, but only in the former football players, and not in the controls. Prior participation in football was associated with worse physical and mental health, while more frequent vigorous exercise was associated with higher physical and mental health ratings. CONCLUSION: Former football players reported more late-life cognitive difficulties and worse physical and mental health than former noncollision-sport athletes and nonathletes. A novel finding of the present study is that current dietary fat was associated with more cognitive difficulties, but only in the former football players. These results suggest the need for educational interventions to encourage healthy dietary habits to promote the long-term cognitive health of collision-sport athletes.

Effect of 1% and 2% propofol on blood lipids during longterm sedation.

OBJECTIVES: To compare the effects of 1% and 2% propofol on the maximum and average lipid levels, the relative frequency of hyperlipidaemia, the propofol dose required to achieve an equivalent degree of sedation, the pharmacodynamic effects at the required infusion rates, and the effect on respiratory function. DESIGN: Open, randomised, parallel group, multicentre comparison study. SETTING: Intensive care units (ICUs) at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Stellenbosch and at Vergelegen Medicity, Somerset West. SUBJECTS: Patients who were artificially ventilated for at least 72 hours in the ICUs and who required sedation or analgesia. OUTCOME MEASURES: Continuous intravenous infusion of 1% or 2% propofol to provide an administration rate in the range of 1-4 mg/kg/h. The initial infusion rate was about 2 mg/kg/h, adjusted to achieve the appropriate level of sedation. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Seventy-five patients were enrolled in the study, of which 72 were evaluable for safety analysis and 58 were evaluable for efficacy analysis. The total daily dose of propofol (ml/day) in the 2% propofol group was about 60% of that in the 1% propofol group, indicating that the lipid load in the 2% propofol group had only slightly more than half the lipid load in the 1% propofol group. Thirteen of 27 patients (48%) in the 2% propofol group had abnormally.