Effectiveness of Tai Chi to Improve Cognitive Function in Older Adults With Mild Cognitive Impairment

August 23, 2021 updated by: The University of Hong Kong

Effectiveness of Tai Chi to Improve Cognitive Function in Older Adults With Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a transitional state between normal cognitive decline and dementia. Individuals with MCI are having an impairment in cognitive function compared with normal age-matched counterparts, while their cognitive function is still sufficient for their daily function. The prevalent rate of MCI is ranging from 10% to 20%. Patients with MCI are more susceptible to dementia with annual conversion rate between 5% and 20%. It is well-known that dementia not only lead to devastating consequences to the patients and their care-givers, but also immense healthcare and socioeconomic burdens. The growing prevalence of MCI in our rapidly aging population warrants immediate action to identify effective interventions to prevent progression of the cognitive impairment and its conversion to dementia. Currently, there is no pharmaceutical treatment proven to be effective in alleviating the cognitive decline in MCI patients. Nonetheless, previous researches have demonstrated that mind activity, physical exercise and social engagement are all have positive effects in alleviating the cognitive decline in MCI patients. Tai Chi is a traditional form of Chinese mind-body exercise that consists of both physical exercise and meditation component. Practicing Tai Chi can also facilitate social engagement as people usually practice in group. Tai Chi is expected to be more acceptable to the older adults for incorporating it with their daily life to preserve cognitive function, compared with conventional physical activity modalities (e.g., running/jogging and gym-based resistance training). Preliminary evidences suggest the potential of Tai Chi for alleviating cognitive decline in older adults.

A randomized controlled trial is needed to conclude on the therapeutic use of Tai Chi before it can be large-scale implemented at community level. This study seeks to extend previous findings of the beneficial effects of Tai Chi on cognitive function in older adults with MCI and examine the impact of Tai Chi training in protecting older adults with MCI from developing dementia. This study also attempt to delineate the behind mechanism of Tai Chi on alleviating cognitive decline by including measurements in neuroimaging and blood markers.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

37

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

  • Hong Kong
      • Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 00
        • The University of Hong Kong

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

50 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Older adults aged equal or larger than 50 years
  • Ethnic Chinese

  • MCI under criteria of Mayo Clinic, including the following:

    i. Participants have noticed a decline in their cognitive function ii. The total score of participants in age and education corrected Hong Kong version Montreal Cognitive assessment is below the 7th percentile of the normative data from Hong Kong iii. The decline of cognitive function does not affect the daily function of the participants revealed by getting ≥2 marks in every item of Chinese Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale (4-point Scale)

Exclusion Criteria:

  • History of major diseases such as cancer, stroke, cardio-/cerebrovascular, neurodegenerative and renal diseases,
  • Diagnosis of dementia or using anti-dementia medication,
  • Diagnosis of psychiatric disease or using psychiatric medication,
  • Inability to perform exercise,
  • Regular mind-body exercise habit (>3 times 60-minute Tai Chi, yoga or Qigong weekly),
  • Physically active (>150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity or >75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity weekly)

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: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control
No intervention
Active Comparator: Conventional exercise
A 24 weeks conventional exercise training with three 1-hour section per week
Other: Conventional exercise
A 24 weeks conventional exercise training with three 1-hour section per week
Experimental: Tai Chi
A 24 weeks Tai Chi training with three 1-hour section per week
Other: Tai Chi training
A 24 weeks Tai Chi training with three 1-hour section per week

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
The score of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment
Time Frame: 12 weeks
Change in the score of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. The score ranged from 0 to 30. Higher score indicates a better cognitive function
12 weeks
The score of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment
Time Frame: 24 weeks
Change in the score of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. The score ranged from 0 to 30. Higher score indicates a better cognitive function
24 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
30-min delay recall
Time Frame: 12 weeks and 24 weeks
The 30-min delay recall test assesses long term memory. Ten words will be read to the participants. The participants will have to recall the 10 words after 30 minutes.
12 weeks and 24 weeks
Trial making test
Time Frame: 12 weeks and 24 weeks
Executive function will be trial making test. The participants will be asked to connect a number of dots according to particular sequence. The time needed for the participant to connect all dots will be recorded. The shorter time the participant needed to connect all dots correctly indicate the better executive function of the participant
12 weeks and 24 weeks
Stroop test
Time Frame: 12 weeks and 24 weeks
Attention will be assessed by stroop test. During the test, participants need to read out the colour of dots or words. The time needed to correctly named all colour of dots/words will be recorded. The faster the participant finished the test indicate the better attention of the participant
12 weeks and 24 weeks
Verbal fluency
Time Frame: 12 weeks and 24 weeks
Verbal fluency test assesses the language domain of cognitive function. Participants need to name animals/ vegetable/ fruits as much as positive in 1 minutes. The more the participant named, the better of their language ability
12 weeks and 24 weeks
Digit span
Time Frame: 12 weeks and 24 weeks
Working Memory will be assessed by digit span. Digit Span Forward requires the participants to repeat numbers in the same order as read by the assessors, and Digit Span Backward requires the participants to repeat the numbers in the reverse order of that presented by the assessors.
12 weeks and 24 weeks
n-back test
Time Frame: 12 weeks and 24 weeks
Short term memory will be assessed by n-back test.
12 weeks and 24 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

The University of Hong Kong

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)

October 10, 2018

Primary Completion (Actual)

August 3, 2019

Study Completion (Actual)

February 28, 2020

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 16, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 28, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

January 30, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 25, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 23, 2021

Last Verified

April 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • TCMCI

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

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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