Photobiomodulation improves frontal lobe cognitive functions and mental health of older adults with non-amnestic mild cognitive impairment: Case studies

Abstract

IntroductionThis study investigated the effects of transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM) on improving the frontal lobe cognitive functions and mental health of older adults.MethodsThree older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) of the non-amnestic type received 18-session tPBM stimulation for 9 weeks and were assessed with neuropsychological tests of memory and executive functions and standardized questionnaires on depressive and anxiety symptoms, global cognitive functions, and daily functioning abilities before and after tPBM stimulation.ResultsAt baseline, their intrusion and/or perseveration errors in a verbal memory test and a fluency test, as measures of the frontal lobe cognitive functions, were in the borderline to severely impaired range at baseline. After tPBM stimulation, the three older adults showed various levels of improvement in their frontal lobe cognitive functions. One older adult’s intrusion and perseveration errors improved from the <1st–2nd percentile (moderately to severely impaired range) to the 41st–69th percentile (average range), another older adult’s intrusion errors improved from the 11th percentile to the 83rd percentile, and the third older adult’s intrusion errors improved from the 5th percentile to the 56th percentile. Moreover, improvements in their anxiety and/or depressive symptoms were also observed. One older adult’s depressive and anxiety symptoms improved from the severe range at baseline to the mild range after the intervention. The other two older adults’ depressive symptoms improved from the mild range at baseline to the normal range after the intervention.DiscussionThese findings provide preliminary support for the potential of tPBM to improve the frontal lobe cognitive functions and mental health of older adults with MCI. Given the small sample size of only three older adults and the absence of a placebo control group, larger randomized controlled studies are needed to confirm its potential.

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“…For example, Salehpour et al 's meta-analysis found that tPBM can have beneficial effects on memory, attention, and executive function in healthy individuals (Salehpour et al, 2019). Furthermore, meta-analysis studies that focused on patients with MCI, dementia, stroke, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, also found that tPBM was beneficial to promote recovery of cognitive function (Spera et al, 2021;Cheung et al, 2023;Kuo and Kim, 2023;McGee et al, 2023).…”

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“…Similar results have been shown in healthy young people and seniors, describing positive effects on their cognitive mechanism after PBM application. Specifically, cognitive skills activated in the frontal lobe were enhanced focusing on working memory, cognitive flexibility, sustained attention, inhibitory ability, executive function in general, and rule-based learning (Rojas, & Gonzalez-Lima, 2016;Lee et al, 2022;Cheung et al, 2023).…”