Dopamine‐Related Genotypes and Physical Activity Change During an Intervention: The Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders Study

Objectives To determine whether intervention‐induced physical activity (PA) changes in sedentary older adults differed according to dopamine‐related genotype. Design Randomized clinical trial (Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders Trial (2010–13)). Setting Multicenter study, 8 U.S. locations. Participants Volunteer sample of sedentary adults aged 70 to 89 at risk of disability (N=1635). Interventions Structured PA versus health education (HE) for an average of 2.6 years. Measurements Single‐nucleotide polymorphisms of dopamine‐related genes (dopamine receptor (DR) D1, DRD2, DRD3, and catechol‐O‐methyltransferase (COMT)) were assessed. Average moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) was calculated using accelerometry (min/d) at baseline and 6, 12, and 24 months. Between‐arm MVPA differences according to genotype and genotype with square root–transformed MVPA separately according to arm were tested, stratified according to race, and adjusted for multiple comparisons. Results White participants in the PA arm (n=513) had higher average square root transformed MVPA (4.91±1.91)than those in the HE arm (n=538) (4.51±1.82) (p=.001). Between‐arm differences were greater for DRD2 Met/Met (high dopamine; HE: 4.76±1.80, PA: 5.53±1.60, p=.03) than Val/Val (low dopamine; HE: 4.58±1.92, PA: 4.81±1.83, p=.16); results were similar for COMT. In the PA arm, DRD2 Met/Met was associated with higher average MVPA (5.39±2.00) than Met/Val (4.46±2.51) (p=.01) and Val/Val (4.65±2.71) (p=.01). There were no associations for other genes. Associations were not significant in blacks but followed similar trends. Conclusion Higher dopamine signaling may support changes in PA during an intervention. The role of dopamine‐related pathways in promoting PA participation and enhancing response to interventions in sedentary older adults should be studied. Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01072500