Aerobic exercise could help slow memory loss for older adults living with Alzheimer’s disease, new research has found.
A pilot randomised control trial was conducted that included 96 older adults living with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s dementia.
Participants were randomly selected to use either a cycling (stationary bike) or stretching intervention for six months. Using the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale-Cognition (ADAS-Cog) to assess cognition, the results of the trial were hailed as “substantial”.
The six-month change in ADAS-Cog was 1.0±4.6 (cycling) and 0.1±4.1 (stretching), which were both significantly less than the expected 3.2±6.3-point increase observed naturally with disease progression.
The project was led by ASU Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation Professor Fang Yu.
”Our primary finding indicates that a six-month aerobic exercise intervention significantly reduced cognitive decline in comparison to the natural course of changes for Alzheimer’s dementia,” says Professor Yu.
“However, we didn’t find a superior effect of aerobic exercise to stretching, which is likely due to the pilot nature of our trial.
“We don’t have the statistical power to detect between-group differences, there was substantial social interaction effect in the stretching group, and many stretching participants did aerobic exercise on their own.”
Professor Yu says their results are encouraging and support the clinical relevance of promoting aerobic exercise in individuals with Alzheimer’s dementia to maintain cognition.
“Aerobic exercise has a low profile of adverse events in older adults with Alzheimer’s dementia as demonstrated by our trial,” she says.
“Regardless of its effect on cognition, the current collective evidence on its benefits supports the use of aerobic exercise as an additional therapy for Alzheimer’s disease.”
The findings are from the recently-published Cognitive Effects of Aerobic Exercise in Alzheimer’s Disease: A Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial.
