老年人心肺適能與執行功能之關聯：頸動脈血流速度之角色

The association of cardiorespiratory fitness and executive functions in older adults: The role of carotid flow velocity

老化所引起的執行功能下降使老年人在日常工作與生活產生阻礙，對個人及社會造成極大的負擔。頸動脈作為大腦血流的主要輸出動脈，其血流速度與心肺適能及認知表現相連結，顯示出頸動脈血流速度與心肺適能、執行功能間之可能關聯性。因此，本文目的即以頸動脈血流速度之觀點，探討老年人心肺適能與執行功能間的關聯性，其中回顧心肺適能與執行功能在老年人族群的相關研究，並回顧頸動脈血流速度在兩者間所扮演的角色。回顧後發現，執行功能會隨著年齡增長而下降，而高心肺適能者通常有較佳的執行功能，此外，心肺適能與認知功能的改善皆與頸動脈血流速度增加相關，顯示出頸動脈血流速度可能是心肺適能提升執行功能的潛在中介因素，心肺適能的提升會透過加快頸動脈血流速度進而對執行功能產生益處。綜上所述，本文彙整頸動脈血流速度在老年人心肺適能與執行功能間的潛在影響，以供未來研究參考。

The age-related decline of the executive functions has an impact on working and daily life, which may cause an enormous burden in both personal and social activities. Recently, cardiorespiratory fitness has been found to have a positive association with executive functions. Furthermore, as a main supporting artery for the cerebral blood flow, the velocity of the carotid flow is also associated with cognitive performance, which shows the potential relationship among the carotid flow velocity (CFV), cardiorespiratory fitness, and executive functions. The aim of this review article is to investigate the role of CFV as it may affect cardiorespiratory fitness and executive functions in older adults. The previous studies investigating this issue were reviewed, and examined the possible mechanisms of the CFV. Content includes the related studies of older adults and executive functions, the related studies of cardiorespiratory fitness and executive functions, and the effect of CFV on cardiorespiratory fitness and executive functions separately. The results of the present review indicated that there is a positive relationship among cardiorespiratory fitness, executive functions and CFV. The improvement of cardiorespiratory fitness is respectively associated with the increase of both executive functions and CFV, suggesting that CFV is maybe a mediator between cardiorespiratory fitness and executive functions. Cardiorespiratory fitness has an effect on executive functions, by increasing the CFV. In summary, this study reviewed the potential effects of carotid flow velocity, as considered from the perspective of a causal relationship at work between cardiorespiratory fitness and executive functions in order adults, hoping that this method will provide some reference for future studies.