Mild Alzheimer's Disease, Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)
Conditions
Keywords
neuroplasticity, Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), Alzheimer, sensory-cognitive training, physical fitness
Brief summary
Age-related cognitive decline is unavoidable. However, recent results of neuroplasticity-based research show that neuroplasticity-based training and physical activity might have the potential to decelerate or even reverse effects of aging and age-related cognitive impairments. Little is known whether these results also apply to pathological processes of aging such as mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia. This multi-center study aims at investigating efficiency and feasibility of a neuroplasticity-based auditory discrimination training and a physical fitness training for patients suffering from mild cognitive impairment or mild Alzheimer's disease (Mini Mental State Examination, MMSE \> 19). Evaluation will include neuropsychological testing, electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurements as well as blood and liquor analyses.
Interventions
OTHERauditory discrimination training
10-week neuroplasticity-based training (5 days/week, 1 hour each, PC-based), training at home
OTHERphysical movement training
10-week training, small groups (2 days/week, 1 hour each) plus homework (3 days/week)
Sponsors
University of Ulm
University of Konstanz
Study design
Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
55 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* focus: subjective and/or objective memory complaints with MMSE \> 19 (MCI or mild Alzheimer's Disease, with stable medication for at least 3 months) * mild to moderate depression * corrected-to-normal hearing and vision * for MRI: non-magnetic metals inside the body * right handedness preferred
Exclusion criteria
* cognitive impairment/ dementia with MMSE \< 20, severe psychiatric or neurological disease (current and lifetime) * physical health that does not allow physical fitness tests and trainings * benzodiazepin, tricyclic antidepressants * for MRI: magnetic metal inside the body, cardiac pacemaker etc. * for liquor: insufficient blood coagulation, insufficient brain pressure
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in global cognition | pre, post, 3-month follow-up | Average score of the two component scores memory and attention / executive functions, derived from principal component analysis of 11 cognitive items (Munich verbal memory test (MVGT) encoding, MVGT long delayed free recall, free recall of the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale, working memory in the Everyday Cognition Battery, Trail Making Test A and B, digit span forward and backward, digit-symbol-coding and semantic and phonematic fluency). |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| electrophysiological, MRI, blood and liquor correlates | pre, post, 3-month follow-up |
Countries
Germany
Outcome results
None listed