LOS ANGELES: New research shows that being physically active not only reduces cognitive decline and improves neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with dementia but may actually reduce Alzheimer’s disease (AD) biomarkers, including amyloid and tau protein in the brain.
Exercise could also benefit patients with types of dementia other than AD, another study suggests.
Analysis showed that older adults with mild to moderate AD who had at least 80% adherence to an aerobic exercise program and maintained at least 70% of their maximum heart rate (the “high exercise” group) had a statistically significant (P = .03) advantage on the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) over a control group.
The intervention consisted of 1 hour of aerobic exercise three times a week for 16 weeks. The control group received usual care.
The analysis found that these symptoms improved in the 66 patients in the “high exercise” group; there was a 3.4-point difference on the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NI) (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.9 – 6.0; P =.01) compared with controls.
The NI is a 12-item questionnaire that rates, amongst other things, depression, apathy, agitation, hallucinations, irritability, weight loss, and sleep.