Table 1.

Baseline characteristics of the participants across PA trajectories

	Constantly high physical activity (n = 27 634)	Decreasing physical activity (n = 11 095)	p Value
Cognition
Immediate recall, mean ± s.d.	5.5 ± 1.6	4.7 ± 1.8	<0.001
Verbal fluency, mean ± s.d.	21.5 ± 7.3	17.9 ± 7.1	<0.001
Delayed recall, mean ± s.d.	4.1 ± 2.0	3.2 ± 2.0	<0.001
Sociodemographic characteristics
Age, mean ± s.d.	61.2 ± 8.0	66.8 ± 9.6	<0.001
Women, n (%)	15 095 (55)	6819 (62)	<0.001
High educationa, n (%)	6 601 (24)	1 487 (13)	<0.001
Highest decile of household net worth, n (%)	3 228 (12)	644 (6)	<0.001
Urban residenceb, n (%)	7 667 (28)	3 061 (28)	0.76
Employed or self-employed, n (%)	11 166 (40)	1 750 (16)	<0.001
Two or more household members, n (%)	22 958 (83)	8 418 (76)	<0.001
Partner in household, n (%)	21 488 (78)	7 693 (69)	<0.001
Two or more children, n (%)	20 721 (75)	8 128 (73)	<0.001
Two or more grandchildren, n (%)	13 154 (48)	6 727 (61)	<0.001
Region, n (%)
Western Europe	11 618 (42)	4 107 (37)	<0.001
Scandinavia	3 334 (12)	743 (7)
Southern Europe	4 459 (16)	2 870 (26)
Central and Eastern Europe	7 204 (26)	2 820 (25)
Israel	1 019 (4)	555 (5)
Health-related characteristics
High depressive symptomsc, n (%)	5 909 (21)	3 945 (36)	<0.001
One or more limitations in IADL, n (%)	2 026 (7)	2 682 (24)	<0.001
One or more chronic diseases, n (%)	19 536 (71)	9 542 (86)	<0.001
One or more mobility limitations, n (%)	10 269 (37)	7 326 (66)	<0.001
Smoking, n (%)	18 997 (69)	7 762 (70)	0.02
Alcohol, n (%)	4 960 (18)	1 567 (14)	<0.001
Obesityd, n (%)	4 984 (18)	3 202 (29)	<0.001
Poor diete, n (%)	6 032 (22)	2 950 (27)	<0.001

s.d., standard deviation; IADL, instrumental activities of daily living.

^aInternational Standard Classification of Education level 5 or 6.

^bBig city, its suburbs or outskirts.

^c4 or more points on EURO-D scale.

^dBody mass index 30 and more.

^eFruits or vegetables less than every day.