From Alzheimer's disease retrogenesis: a new care strategy for patients with advanced dementia

Abstract

There is evidence that exercise may reduce the progressive cognitive dysfunction of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, no previous investigation has studiethe acute effects of adapted games (AG) on patients with AD. The aim of this study was to examine the acute effects of AG on the agitated behavior (rating scale Agitated Behavior Rating Scale [ABRS]) and cognitive performance (Test for Severe Impairment [TSI]) of patients with advanced dementia. Twenty patients (83±4 yrs) participated in AG and placebo activities (PL). Agitated behavior and cognitive performance were compared before and after 30 minutes of AG and PL. In the hour after the AG, agitated behavior decreased by ∼4 ABRS points and cognitive performance increased by ∼5 TSI points. On the contrary, after PL we found no change in agitated behavior or cognitive performance. Our data indicate that AG can momentarily reduce agitated behavior and increase the cognitive performance in participants with AD.

Figure 1.

Study overview.

Figure 2.

Individual and Group mean Test for Severe Impairment. TSI indicates test for severe impairment. Open circles represent individual TSI score before and after the first ball games (adapted games [AG]), open triangles represent individual TSI score before and after the second AG session. Open squares represent group mean of TSI before and after AG. Filled circles represent individual TSI score before and after the first placebo exercise (PL), filled triangles represent individual TSI score before and after the second PL activity. Filled squares represent group mean of TSI before and after PL. Group means are mean ± standard deviation (SD). *between-groups p < .05.

Figure 3.

Number of errors on the 6 subscale cognitive domains of TSI. Data expressed as mean ± standard deviation (SD). * in-group and between groups p < .05.