Multimodal Exercise Effect on Brain Dynamics, Cognitive Functioning and Physical Fitness

March 27, 2024 updated by: Hugo Filipe Zurzica Rosado, University of Évora

The Effect of a Multimodal Exercise Program on Brain Dynamics, Cognitive Functioning and Physical Fitness in Community-dwelling Older Adults

The aim of present study is to analyze the effect of a multimodal exercise program on brain dynamics, cognitive functioning and physical fitness in community-dwelling older adults This experimental study is a controlled trial. Participants will be allocated to two groups: experimental group (who attend the multimodal exercise program) and control group (who maintain usual activity).

The multimodal exercise program will run for 12 weeks (3 sessions / week of 60 minutes).

Participants will be assessed 1) at baseline and at 2) at 12 weeks.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Aging is associated with a decline in cognitive functioning (CF), which influence negatively the motor capacities of older adults (1). Differences on dynamic brain, namely reductions in structural and functional connectivity contribute to cognitive decline. However, efficient communications between brain regions works like a prerequisite for CF (2,3).

Programs targeting cognitive functioning improvement evidenced the importance of the information processing speed (IPS). However, IPS may not be the only factor conditioning the relationship between CF and gait in the older people, especially in locomotive tasks that require attention (4). According to Lezak et al. (5), the performance in each area of CF decreases with aging, and the most significant decline is reported on the performance of complex attentional tasks such as selective or divided attention.

Recent studies focusing cognitive or physical fitness programs, have been shown that dual-task (DT) performance, particularly involving walking while performing a task with cognitive interference, predicts the risk of frailty, disability and mortality in older people (6,7).

According Bahureksa, et al. (8), for balance maintenance is needed to incorporate and decipher the sensorimotor information through CF. On the other hand, exercise programs reported as effective strategies for agility, muscle strength and body composition improvement (9, 10). However, no studies were found focusing the effect and benefits of a multimodal exercise program privileging IPS on brain electrical activity, CF and functional fitness in community-dwelling older adults.

This multimodal exercise program, privileging information processing speed and comprising sensorimotor and neurocognitive exercises, may revert the process of loss and decline on brain dynamics, CF and physical fitness in community-dwelling older adults.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

40

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Portugal
      • Évora, Portugal
        • Universidade de Evora

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

65 years and older (Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Male or female participants aged ≥65 years;
  • Community-dwelling older adults living independently;

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Presence of cognitive impairment (Mini-Mental State Examination) (11);
  • Presence of motor impairment compromising the program participation;
  • Presence of neurological problems or diseases compromising the program participation;

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Multimodal exercise program
The experimental group intervention will attend the multimodal exercise program. The program integrates 3 sessions / week of 60 minutes on alternated days. The multimodal exercise program includes exercises promoting simultaneous motor and cognitive stimulation.
Other: Multimodal exercise program
Each session includes: beginning ritual (5 min), warm-up (15 min), main section comprising the multimodal exercises (30 min), cool-down (5 min), and finishing ritual (5 min). At the initial stage, the activation of different muscle groups will be performed. The main section (multimodal exercises) will be focused on the specific objectives through sensorimotor and neurocognitive activities and will privilege IPS. This section includes periods ranging 10-15 min of exercises mainly focused on motor stimulation - physical fitness (strength, balance and agility) - alternating with exercises mainly focused on cognitive stimulation - CF (planning ability, solving-problems, IPS, attention and DT performance). At the cool-down the participants will normalize their physiological parameters. Finally, at the finishing ritual the participants sign an attendance sheet regarding the session, including perceived exertion (Borg Scale) and satisfaction (Caregiver Treatment Satisfaction questionnaire).
No Intervention: Control Group
Usual care. After the study, it will be offered the opportunity to integrate a similar exercise program for the control group (CG) participants.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change from Baseline, between and within groups comparison
Time Frame: 0, 3 months
Dynamic Brain Outcome Measure - Electroencephalographic evaluation to assess frequency analyses in the alpha, theta and beta power spectrum
0, 3 months
Change from Baseline, between and within groups comparison
Time Frame: 0, 3 months
Cognitive Functioning Outcome Measure - Tower of London test, ranging from 0 (worst) to 36 (best), to assess problem-solving ability (n)
0, 3 months
Change from Baseline, between and within groups comparison
Time Frame: 0, 3 months
Cognitive Functioning Outcome Measure - Tower of London test to assess planning and execution time (s)
0, 3 months
Change from Baseline, between and within groups comparison
Time Frame: 0, 3 months
Cognitive Functioning Outcome Measure - Useful Field of View Assessment, ranging from 17 (best) to 500 (worst), to evaluate processing speed, selective and divided attention (ms)
0, 3 months
Change from Baseline, between and within groups comparison
Time Frame: 0, 3 months
Physical Fitness Outcome Measure - Timed Up and Go test (single and dual-task version) to assess agility and dual-task performance (s)
0, 3 months
Change from Baseline, between and within groups comparison
Time Frame: 0, 3 months
Physical Fitness Outcome Measure - The Ten Step Test to assess agility (s)
0, 3 months
Change from Baseline, between and within groups comparison
Time Frame: 0, 3 months
Physical Fitness Outcome Measure - Senior Fitness Test (30-Second Chair Stand) to assess lower body strength (resistance) (n)
0, 3 months
Change from Baseline, between and within groups comparison
Time Frame: 0, 3 months
Physical Fitness Outcome Measure - Short Physical Performance Battery (Chair Stand Test) to assess lower body strength (power) (n)
0, 3 months
Change from Baseline, between and within groups comparison
Time Frame: 0, 3 months
Physical Fitness Outcome Measure - Fullerton Advanced Balance Scale (modified version), ranging from 0 (worst) to 16 (best) points, to assess balance
0, 3 months
Change from Baseline, between and within groups comparison
Time Frame: 0, 3 months
Body Composition Outcome Measure - Bioimpedance analyzer (Tanita® MC-780) to assess body fat mass (%)
0, 3 months
Change from Baseline, between and within groups comparison
Time Frame: 0, 3 months
Body Composition Outcome Measure - Bioimpedance analyzer (Tanita® MC-780) to assess body lean mass (%)
0, 3 months
Change from Baseline, between and within groups comparison
Time Frame: 0, 3 months
Body Composition Outcome Measure - Bioimpedance analyzer (Tanita® MC-780) to assess body water (%)
0, 3 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Évora

Collaborators

São João de Deus School of Nursing
Horizon 2020 - Portugal 2020 (ALT20-03-0145-FEDER-000007 - Project: ESACA)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Hugo Rosado, MSc, University of Évora

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

December 2, 2019

Primary Completion (Actual)

January 30, 2020

Study Completion (Actual)

June 30, 2023

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 27, 2019

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 5, 2019

First Posted (Actual)

December 6, 2019

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 28, 2024

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 27, 2024

Last Verified

March 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • Brain Dynamics

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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