The effectiveness of cognitive-motor training on reconstructing cognitive health components in older male adults, recovered from the COVID-19

Amin Amini, Mohammad Vaezmousavi, Hossein Shirvani, Amin Amini, Mohammad Vaezmousavi, Hossein Shirvani

Abstract

Objective: The incidence of COVID-19 disease in the elderly can accelerate normal degenerative process of cognitive functions. Interactive cognitive-motor training (CMT) is an intervention that integrates cognitive and motor tasks to promote individuals' physical and psychological health. The present study aimed to examine the effect of CMT on reconstructing cognitive health components in older men, who have recently recovered from COVID-19.

Materials and methods: This study is a quasi-experimental repeated measure (without control group). Participants were 42 elderly men (65-80 years) who recovered from the COVID-19 disease that individually participated in a 4-week CMT program twice a week. The cognitive health components of the participants were assessed by the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-2) and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) at 3 stages before the beginning of the intervention (baseline assessment); 2 weeks after the intervention (short-term follow-up); and 3 months after the intervention (long-term follow-up).

Results: The results showed that the scores of depression, anxiety, physical symptoms, and social performance components and the overall GHQ score improved significantly in short-term follow-up (P < 0.05) and also in long-term follow-up compared to baseline assessment (P < 0.05). It was also found that attention and calculation, recall, lingual skill, and action performance components and the overall score of MMSE were also improved at three stages of assessments. Other components did not differ among stages.

Conclusions: This study adds to the research on the effectiveness of using CMT for reconstructing cognitive health components in older adults, recovered from the COVID-19, and supports CMT as a viable intervention practice.

Keywords: COVID-19; Cognitive function; Dual-task; Elderly; General health; Training.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

© 2021. Fondazione Società Italiana di Neurologia.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Profiles of the stages of this study
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The effects of cognitive-motor training on general health ((a) depression, (b) anxiety, (c) physical symptoms, (d) social performance, and (e) the overall scores) at various stages of the test. *Significance level P ≤ 0.05
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The effects of cognitive-motor training on cognitive health ((a) orientation, (b) information encoding, (c) attention and calculation, (d) recall, (e) lingual skill, (f) action performance, and (g) the whole) at test various stages. *Significance level P ≤ 0.05
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
The cognitive-motor training scenario considered in this study (The training program used progressive activities related to body stability, to body stability plus hand manipulation, then body transport, and finally body transport plus hand manipulation. The participants receiving dual-task training with fixed-priority instructions practiced motor tasks while simultaneously performing cognitive tasks, and were instructed to maintain attention on both postural and cognitive tasks at all times.)

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