Aerobic Exercise to Improve Executive Language Function In Older Adults

Aerobic Exercise to Improve Executive Language Function in Older Adults

The purpose of this study is to see if exercise can improve brain function in older adults

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Aging
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Aerobic group

Detailed Description

Recently, considerable attention has been devoted to examining the beneficial relationship between cognition and aerobic exercise in older adults. Specifically, the effects are thought to involve higher order cognitive processes, such as working memory, switching between tasks, and inhibiting irrelevant information, all of which are thought to be sub- served, in part, by the frontal lobes (Colcombe et al., 2006). Importantly, these areas also are most susceptible to age-related decline (Raz, 2000) and are essential resources for language production (Kemper & Sumner, 2001; Murray & Lenz, 2001). However, despite promising cognitive improvement, changes in frontally-mediated executive language functions have been widely ignored. This is unfortunate considering impaired word retrieval compromises communicative effectiveness, leading to frustration, depression, and withdrawal. Perhaps more importantly, communication ineffectiveness, particularly in the elderly, leads to difficulties interacting with health care professionals leading to further health care burdens. Since cognition, and specifically word retrieval difficulties, usually remain untreated, it is important to find treatment strategies for minimizing these deficits. Therefore, the short-term goal and the purpose of this proposal is to examine the potential of aerobic exercise to improve executive language function in older adults.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 20
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Florida
    • Gainesville, Florida, United States, 32608
      • North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System, Gainesville, FL
  • Georgia
    • Decatur, Georgia, United States, 30033
      • Atlanta VA Medical and Rehab Center, Decatur, GA

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 65 years to 89 years (Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Consent of participants' primary health care physicians to participate in the aerobic exercise.
• Patients must not have participated in any consistent exercise program or experimental study for at least 3 months prior to enrollment.
• They must be capable of providing informed consent and complying with the trial procedures.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Demented as defined by the Modified Mini Mental Status Exam.
• Unalterable travel schedules.
• Site accessibility constraints.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Aerobic Group; 12 weeks of aerobic exercise 3 times a week	Behavioral: Aerobic group; 12 weeks of aerobic exercise 3 times a week
No Intervention: Control Group; No contact control

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Executive Language Functions	The Verbal Fluency Test is demonstrated to be reliable and valid among adults aged 50 to 89 (Delis, et al., 2001; Delis, Kramer, Kaplan, & Hodnack, 2004). The Verbal Fluency Test has three conditions, Letter Verbal Fluency, Category Verbal Fluency, and Switching Verbal Fluency. Each was randomized at pre- and post-12 week timeline and equated for difficulty. Letter Verbal Fluency assesses the number of words beginning with certain letters that participants can generate within 60 seconds,the Category Verbal Fluency assesses the number of words within particular categories participants can generate within 60 seconds, and the Switching Verbal Fluency assesses the number of words while alternating between different categories participants can generate within 60 seconds. For each condition (letter, category, and switching) a total score representing the total number of correct	number of correct words at pre and post separated by 12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: US Department of Veterans Affairs
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Joe R Nocera, PhD, Atlanta VA Medical and Rehab Center, Decatur, GA

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Nocera JR, McGregor KM, Hass CJ, Crosson B. Spin exercise improves semantic fluency in previously sedentary older adults. J Aging Phys Act. 2015 Jan;23(1):90-4. doi: 10.1123/japa.2013-0107. Epub 2014 Jan 14.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: September 1, 2010
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 1, 2012
• Study Completion (Actual): January 1, 2012

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 15, 2009
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 16, 2009
• First Posted (Estimate): September 17, 2009

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): November 26, 2014
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 13, 2014
• Last Verified: November 1, 2014

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: E6860-M