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. 2025 Jan-Mar;25(1):100538.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijchp.2024.100538. Epub 2025 Jan 11.

Cognitive interventions for healthy older adults: A systematic meta-review

Vitória Velloso  1 , Sofia Latgé-Tovar  2 , Iris Bomilcar  3 , Daniel C Mograbi  1   4
Affiliations

Cognitive interventions for healthy older adults: A systematic meta-review

Vitória Velloso et al. Int J Clin Health Psychol. 2025 Jan-Mar.

Abstract

Objectives: With increasing global life expectancy, cognitive interventions hold promise in mitigating cognitive decline and fostering healthy aging. Despite the demand for evidence-based interventions, there have been few attempts to summarize existing evidence. This study aims to assess the effectiveness and feasibility of unimodal and multimodal cognitive interventions for cognitively healthy older adults.

Method: Systematic meta-review, selecting articles from four databases: PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane Library. Quality assessment carried out with AMSTAR2. Findings were summarized and discussed narratively.

Results: Thirty-nine articles were included, with 21 meta-analyses and 18 qualitative systematic reviews. The total number of reviews was 38 for cognitive training, 4 for cognitive stimulation, and 1 for multicomponent interventions. Most reviews had low or critically low quality.

Conclusions: The prevailing evidence supports cognitive training. Continued research into cognitive stimulation and multicomponent protocols is encouraged. Longer follow-ups are important for identifying combined and clinically significant results. Rigorous risk of bias and quality assessment is necessary to enhance the evidence base.

Keywords: Active aging; Cognitive intervention; Dementia; Healthy aging; Preventive care.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PRISMA flowchart of study identification, screening, assessment of eligibility and inclusion for synthesis.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Results for each quality criteria across included reviews. *Critical domains for qualitative reviews. † Critical domains for meta-analysis.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Overall confidence ratings across included reviews.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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