Does Multicomponent Physical Exercise Training Work for Dementia? Exploring the Effects on Cognition, Neuropsychiatric Symptoms, and Quality of Life

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effects of a multicomponent training (MT) physical exercise intervention in the cognitive function, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and quality of life of older adults with major neurocognitive disorder (NCD). METHODS: Quasi-experimental controlled trial. Thirty-six individuals (25 female) were equally distributed to an exercise group (aged 74.33 ± 5.87 years) or a control group (aged 81.83 ± 6.18 years). The Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale – Cognitive (ADAS-Cog), the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) and the Quality of Life – Alzheimer’s Disease (QoL-AD) tests were performed before and after the intervention. RESULTS: There was no clear interaction effect factor of intervention on ADAS-Cog (B = 1.33, 95% CI: -2.61 – 5.28, P = .513), NPI (B = −8.35, 95% CI: −18.48 – 1.72, P = .115), and QoL-AD (B = 2.87, 95% CI: .01 – 5.73, P = .058). CONCLUSIONS: The 6-month MT physical exercise intervention did not present evidence of slowing down cognitive decline neither improving neuropsychiatric symptomatology, and quality of life of older adults with major NCD. Future studies with larger samples are needed to better understand the impact of physical exercise interventions using MT methodology on specific cognitive abilities, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and quality of life domains.