Session Information
Date: Thursday, June 23, 2016
Session Title: Parkinson's disease: Clinical trials, pharmacology and treatment
Session Time: 12:00pm-1:30pm
Location: Exhibit Hall located in Hall B, Level 2
Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effects of aerobic and goal-based exercise on memory, language, and visuospatial functions in cognitively normal and impaired individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD).
Background: Deficits in memory, language, and visuospatial functions are linked to an increased risk of dementia in PD. Hence, the treatment of these deficits may be critical to prevent or post-pone the onset of dementia in people with PD. While it is known that exercise can positively influence cognition in PD, the effects of different exercise modalities on cognitive domains linked to increased risk of dementia in PD are unclear.
Methods: Fifty-eight PD patients were randomly allocated into an aerobic exercise (n=22), a goal-based exercise (n=21), or a control (n=15) group. Participants with MoCA scores below 26 were classified as cognitively impaired. Participants in the exercise groups attended 1-hour sessions 3x/week for 12 weeks, while those in the control group carried on with their regular activities for the same period. Memory (Short California Verbal Learning Test/Rey-O Complex Figure), Language (Semantic Fluency/Boston Naming Test), and visuospatial functions (Benton Line Orientation/Copy of the Intersected Pentagons) were assessed pre and post.
Results: Main effects of time were found for all memory and visuospatial tasks, as well as for semantic fluency (p<0.05). An interaction between time, group and cognitive status approached significance for the Pentagons task (p=0.07), showing that while cognitively impaired participants in the aerobic group maintained performance levels from pre to post-test, those in the goal-based group were worse at post-test as were those in the control group.
Conclusions: In conclusion, neither aerobic nor goal-based exercises alone were able to improve cognitive domains linked to increased risk of dementia in PD. However, aerobic exercise showed some potential to prevent or post-pone the worsening of visuospatial functions in cognitively impaired individuals with PD.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
C.R.A. Silveira, E.A. Roy, B.N. Intzandt, Q.J. Almeida. Does physical exercise influence the cognitive domains that predict dementia in Parkinson’s disease? [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2016; 31 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/does-physical-exercise-influence-the-cognitive-domains-that-predict-dementia-in-parkinsons-disease/. Accessed May 15, 2025.« Back to 2016 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/does-physical-exercise-influence-the-cognitive-domains-that-predict-dementia-in-parkinsons-disease/