The Therapeutic Effect of Exercise Training on Old Patients With Dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Exercise training has been evidenced to bring various of benefits for patients with dementia in past studies. However, whether strength training or aerobic training could bring better benefits has not been confirmed in the past. This study designed to recruit 30 patients with mild dementia in the first year. Every patient will receive strength training using dumbbells, butterfly machine and vertical leg press machine for four weeks. Outcome measures including self care ability, cognitive function, MCP-1, BDNF and IGF-1 levels, and the degree of depression will be recorded before and after the training. In the second year, the investigators also designed to recruit 31 patients with mild dementia. These participants will instead receive aerobic training using stationary bicycle for four weeks. The same outcome measures will be tested as in the first year. The other part of the study recruited 46 patients with mild cognitive impairment, who were randomized into either a four-week isokinetic or isotonic training program. All cases were evaluated by isokinetic peak torque, 36-item Short Form Survey (SF-36), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Barthel Index, geriatric depression scale (GDS-15), and Timed Up and Go test (TUG test) before and after each kind of training.