Rhythmic Exercise in Older Adults With Cognitive Impairment

Effects of a Rhythmic Exercise Program on the Physical, Mental and Cognitive Performance of Older Adults With Cognitive Impairment.

Rhythmic physical exercise is a very promising non-pharmaceutical tool to prevent or reduce cognitive decline that occurs in people sixty years of age or older. The main objective is to determine the effect of a rhythmic exercise program on the physical, mental and cognitive performance of older adults with cognitive impairment. The main variables of the study will be: global cognitive function evaluated by the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA); attention and executive functions evaluated using the Trail Making Test (TMT) part A and B. As secondary variables, the functional abilities evaluated using the Senior Fitness Test (SFT) will be taken into account. Additionally, sociodemographic variables and variables related to health status will be evaluated. These will take into account the quality of sleep evaluated with the Pittsburgh index, the nutritional status evaluated using the Mini Nutritional Assessment-Short Form (MNA-SF) scale, and the Stress and anxiety levels will be assessed using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21). All variables will be evaluated before the intervention and after it. After the intervention, it is expected that the exercise program will improve the neurocognitive performance, as well as the functional and psychological abilities of older adults.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Cognitive Impairment
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Rhythmic exercise

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 96
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Spain
  • Jaén, Spain
    • U.E.D. Virgen de la Capilla

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Be 60 years old or older
• Do not participate in any physical exercise program
• Present physical autonomy to participate in the physical activities required by the study.
• Present scores of > 25 on the MMSE
• Present current affiliation to the social health security system.
• Sign the informed consent
• Understand the instructions, programs and protocols of this project.
• Complete more than 90% of the intervention with exercise.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Present medical contraindications for performing physical tests.
• Present diseases that limit cognitive performance and physical activity.
• Present vestibular diseases
• Present rheumatological diseases that can be exacerbated by stress articulate.
• Refusing to sign the informed consent

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Triple

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control Group (CG); This group does not receive any treatment.
Experimental: EXPERIMENTAL GROUP (EG); People assigned to this group will undergo a 12-week physical training intervention	Other: Rhythmic exercise; A multicomponent rhythmic physical training will be carried out, with a predominance of QMT, following the principles of "Animal Flow" [46] and including the following components: wrist mobilizations; activations; specific stretching positions; special locomotor movements or "traveling forms"; interruptions and transitions with dynamic movements and choreographic sequences of "Flow". Aspects related to the control of intensity, volume and progression strategy have yet to be defined.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
The Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36)	Used extensively for assessing health-related quality of life. The results are values between 0 and 100. Optimal health is represented by scores of 100 and very poor health would equal 0.	Up to twelve weeks
Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE)	The most widely used cognitive screening test to assess suspected symptoms consistent with cognitive impairment or dementia. Written test with a maximum score of 30. The cut-off point established for the MMSE defines "normal" cognitive function is generally set at 24, lower scores indicate more serious cognitive problems.	Up to twelve weeks
MoCA (Montreal Cognitive Assessment)	Instrument that examines the skills of attention, concentration, executive functions, memory, language, visuoconstructive abilities, calculation and orientation and the maximum score is 30.	Up to twelve weeks
The Yesavage Geriatric Depression Scale	Questionnaire used to screen for depression in older people. Scores from 00 to 05 indicate Normal screening, 06 to 10 Moderate Depression screening, and 11 to 15 Severe Depression screening.	Up to twelve weeks
PSQI (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index)	A simple and valid assessment of both sleep quality and disturbance that might affect. They consist of 10 questions divided into four subscales: subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, habitual sleep efficiency, sleep discomfort, medication use and daytime dysfunctions, adding up to a total score. The higher value represents a worse result. Higher scores indicate poorer sleep.	Up to twelve weeks
Chair sit and reach test	To test low back and hamstring flexibility.	Up to twelve weeks
Back scratch test	To measure general shoulder range of motion.	Up to twelve weeks
TMT (Trail Making Test)	It is used to assess executive function. It measures timed motor and visual tasks, and is divided into two tests: Part A (TMTA), which assesses speed and psychomotor attention and requires connecting consecutively numbered circles; and Part B (TMTB), which tests executive function and requires connecting alternating circles of numbers and letters. Longer completion times indicate poor performance.	Up to twelve weeks
SFT (Senior Fitness Test)	Instrument used to assess functional abilities. It consists of the following tests: muscle strength (upper and lower limbs), aerobic endurance, flexibility (upper and lower limbs) and agility, 6-minute walk test, Sit-to-foot test using a chair (measures flexibility of the lower body, Try to clasp hands behind your back, Try to get up, walk 8 feet and sit back.	Up to twelve weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Tinetti scale	It is used to determine early the risk of falling in an elderly person during the year following its application. The result of both sections will be added, so that a score of less than 19 points will imply a high risk of falls, a score of 19 to 24 will reflect medium risk of falls and a score of 25 to 28 will indicate low risk of falls.	Up to twelve weeks
Frailty phenotype	Five original characteristics are evaluated: involuntary weight loss, self-reported exhaustion, slow gait speed, weakness, and low physical activity.	Up to twelve weeks
Handgrip Strength	Dynamometer will be employed to assess hand grip strength.	Up to twelve weeks
Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS)	It evaluates, in a global way, the dispositional capacity of an individual to be attentive and aware of the experience of the present moment in everyday life. The scale is a 15-item univariate self-report with a view of the mindfulness construct centered on the attention / consciousness variable.	Up to twelve weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Jaén

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 8, 2024
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 15, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): April 5, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 8, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 8, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): November 14, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 13, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 9, 2025
• Last Verified: April 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Neurocognitive Disorders; Cognition Disorders; Cognitive Dysfunction
• Other Study ID Numbers: -UJAEN

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