The effect of aerobic dance intervention on brain spontaneous activity in older adults with mild cognitive impairment: A resting‑state functional MRI study

Abstract

The current study aimed to evaluate the effect of a specially designed moderate-intensity aerobic dance (SDMIAD) on brain spontaneous activity in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI). A total of 38 subjects with MCI were recruited to the current study and were randomized into two groups: Exercise (EG, n=19) and control (CG, n=19). The EG was treated with a SDMIAD and usual care for 3 months. The CG only received usual care. None of the patients were administered medicine that affected cognition during the intervention. The cognitive assessments and RS-fMRI examination were performed on the two groups at recruitment and after 3 months. The cognitive functions were assessed by various neuropsychological tests. The brain spontaneous activity change was assessed using an index, the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) of fMRI signal. Cognitive assessments demonstrated that EG had significantly improved results in the Mini-Mental State Examination, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised Logical Memory (WMS-R LM) and the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (all P<0.05), and the difference in changes in WMS-R LM from baseline to 3 months between the EG and the CG was also statistically significant (P<0.05) after 3 months of SDMIAD. The performance of all the cognitive assessments did not demonstrate significant differences in CG. Compared with baseline, EG exhibited significantly increased ALFF in several areas, including the bilateral fronto-temporal, entorhinal, anterior cingulate and parohippocampal cortex after 3 months of SDMIAD (P<0.05); whereas the CG exhibited significantly increased ALFF only in a few areas, including right temporal and posterior cingulate cortex (P<0.05). The SDMIAD may effectively improve the cognitive function in older adults with MCI. RS-fMRI provided a quantitative method for evaluating the effect of aerobic exercise on cognitive function.

Effect of Square Dance Exercise on Older Women With Mild Mental Disorders

“…There are two possible reasons for this controversy. First, the small sample size (19 subjects per group) constrains the accuracy of the study results ( 31 ); second, the use of the study instrument may lead to problems with the precision of the collected data ( 29 ). The positive effects of square dancing as a form of aerobic exercise on cognitive function may be due to the presence of several factors.…”

The Neuroscience of Dance: A Systematic Review of the Present State of Research and Suggestions for Future Work

“…After three months, those in the dance group "exhibited significantly increased [amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation] in several areas, including the bilateral fronto-temporal, entorhinal, anterior cingulate and parahippocampal cortex" compared with the baseline (Qi et al, 2019).…”

“…In (Qi et al, 2019), participants with mild cognitive impairment who underwent dance therapy were compared to a "no-change" control group, who received only their usual care.…”

“…This is especially important in studies on dance therapy for older adults, as rapid degeneration can, and often does, occur in the elderly. Indeed, in the two studies on dance therapy for older adults in which a "nochange" control group was included (Qi et al, 2019;Sejnoha Minsterova et al, 2020), differences were observed between the two groups, and in the study that employed multiple different control groups (though none of these groups were a "no-change" group) (Burzynska et al, 2017b), white matter integrity declined in all groups.…”

Filipino Multicomponent Intervention to Maintain Cognitive Performance in High-Risk Population (FINOMAIN): Study Protocol for a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

“…As verbal working memory required the reading of alphabets, we decided to use the visual working memory task instead as it is non-language dependent and has been well-validated in previous studies (24,28). Although a few studies that analyzed the effect of dance using fMRI have demonstrated enhancement of cortical and subcortical functional connectivity (29)(30)(31), these studies were mostly cross-sectional in design, involving young participants. Furthermore, benefits of dance extend beyond neurocognitive benefits by improving physical, functional, socioemotional, and quality of life in older adults (22).…”