Associations of physical function and body mass index with functional brain networks in community-dwelling older adults

Deficits in physical function that occur with aging contribute to declines in quality of life and increased mortality. There has been a growing interest in examining associations between physical function and neurobiology. Whereas high levels of white matter disease have been found in individuals with mobility impairments in structural brain studies, much less is known about the relationship between physical function and functional brain networks. Even less is known about the association between modifiable risk factors such as body mass index (BMI) and functional brain networks. The current study examined baseline functional brain networks in 192 individuals from the Brain Networks and mobility (B-NET) study, an ongoing longitudinal, observational study in community-dwelling adults aged 70 and older. Physical function and BMI were found to be associated with sensorimotor and dorsal attention network connectivity. There was a synergistic interaction such that high physical function and low BMI were associated with the highest network integrity. White matter disease did not modify these relationships. Future work is needed to understand the causal direction of these relationships.