A 5‐year community program in Singapore to prevent cognitive decline

Abstract

Introduction: There is a scarcity of naturalistic follow-up studies on cognitive stimulating activities (CSAs), particularly in a real-world setting and over long-term.We thus investigated a pooled novel CSA intervention to prevent cognitive decline amongst community-dwelling older adults without dementia.Methods: Nested within a community-based longitudinal follow-up cohort study of community-dwelling and multi-ethnic older adults (N = 991), a subset of the cohort (n = 264) underwent four single-blinded randomized controlled trials involving four novel CSAs, including mindfulness, horticulture, art therapy, and choral singing. At the cohort's 5-year follow-up, we examined if involvements in the CSAs improved cognition, compared to controls (n = 727). The primary outcomes were changes in global cognition and specific cognitive domain scores measured by the mini-mental state examination (MMSE). Exploratory subgroup analyses stratified by baseline cognitive status and the number of CSAs were also conducted.Results: Compared to the control group, there was a small improvement in the CSA group on the total MMSE score (d = 0.108) and MMSE-immediate recall score (d = 0.199). Furthermore, subgroup analyses revealed medium effect sizes of improvements (d = 0.420) in cognitive domains in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (vs. cognitively healthy) and those involved in two CSAs (vs. one CSA).Discussion: In summary, a CSA intervention improved cognition. MCI and those involved in two CSAs gained greater benefits from the CSAs. These sustained improvements in cognitive functions could have a significant impact on delaying or preventing dementia.

LFC study: Protocol for a longitudinal follow-up cohort study on ageing and mental health in community-dwelling older adults in Singapore

“…Lastly, we hypothesized that 4) participants who had been involved in NPIs from the CHI study would be likely to retain or show improvement in cognitive function and psychosocial outcomes when assessed during the LFC study. In support of this hypothesis, Ng et al conducted a 5-year follow up and found that participants who had previously participated in NPIs had cognitive improvements as compared to control participants who did not participate in NPIs [16] . As such, the effects from previous NPIs should be retained when examined in the LFC Study.…”

Understanding Music and Aging through the lens of Bayesian Inference

“…Aging is an increasingly important concern around the globe (Bloom et al, 2015;Lenox-Smith et al, 2018), and is accompanied by a combination of cognitive decline (mentioned earlier in this review) and various age-related neurodegenerative disorders and cardiovascular health issues (e.g., Brookmeyer et al, 2007). Therefore, it is critical to invest resources in developing effective non-pharmacological interventions (e.g., Ng et al, 2022) to either help mitigate the rate of cognitive decline or promote cognitive maintenance, so as to reduce economic burdens on society and healthcare institutions. As music is highly accessible and widely available, music-based interventions or music therapy, could be considered as one of the most ideal candidates among current forms of non-pharmacological interventions (Agres et al, 2021).…”