Elderly women with mild cognitive impairment benefit significantly from aerobic training, according to findings published today.
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is an established risk factor for dementia and "represents a vital opportunity for intervening", say Dr Teresa Liu-Ambrose of the University of British Columbia, Canada, and colleagues in today’s British Journal of Sports Medicine.
"Exercise is a promising strategy for combating cognitive decline by improving brain structure and function," they write. Aerobic training in particular may benefit otherwise healthy community-dwelling older people.
They recruited 86 women aged 70 to 80 years with probable MCI. The women undertook either aerobic training, resistance training, or balance and tone training twice a week, for six months. The balance and tone training was not strenuous exercise, and considered the "control" group.
At the start and the end, the women were given MRI scans of their hippocampal volume. The hippocampus plays important roles in short-term and long-term memory, and spatial navigation. Tests were also given on verbal memory and learning.
Compared with the balance and tone group, aerobic training significantly improved left, right and total hippocampal volumes, report the team. But they add that increased left hippocampal volume was linked with decreased verbal memory and learning performance.
The relationship between brain volume and cognitive performance is complex, and requires further research, say the authors.
They conclude: "Aerobic training significantly increased hippocampal volume in older women with probable MCI. More research is needed to ascertain the relevance of exercise-induced changes in hippocampal volume on memory performance in older adults with MCI."
ten Brinke, L. F. et al. Aerobic exercise increases hippocampal volume in older women with probable mid cognitive impairment: a 6 month randomised controlled trial. British Journal of Sports Medicine 9 April 2014 doi 10.1136/bjsports-2013-093184 [abstract]
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