Table 8.
Effect of exercise on secondary outcomes in dementia: narrative findings
| Intervention | Population | Outcome | Number of studies | Main findings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aerobic exercise | AD | Cognitive function | 8 | There is scarce evidence that aerobic exercise improves cognition in AD patients. Overall, the included studies reported only positive effects for patients’ global cognition after intervention, mainly due to a lack of accurate neuropsychological assessment of each cognitive domain |
| PA mixed | AD | Executive function | 4 | Significant improvement was seen in all studies |
| PA home-based | Dementia | BPSD | 7 | Small effect on BPSD (ES = − 0.37, 95% CI − 0.57, − 0.017) |
| PA home-based | Dementia | Carer's burden | 3 | Medium reduction on carer's burden (ES = − 0.63, 95% CI − 0.94, − 0.32) for NPI Caregivers subscale and low and negative (ES = − 0.45, 95% CI − 0.77, − 0.13) for ZBI |
| PA home-based | Dementia | Cognitive function | 6 | Medium effect on MMSE (ES = 0.71, 95% CI 0.43, 0.99) |
| PA home-based | Dementia | Disability | 4 |
Important effect on disability (ES = 0.80, 95% CI 0.53, 1.07) |
| PA home-based | Dementia | Health-related physical fitness | 6 |
Large effect on physical tests Functional Reach test (ES = 2.24, 95% CI 1.80, 2.68), TUG test (ES = − 2.40, 95% CI − 2.84, − 1.96) |
| PA home-based | Dementia | QoL | 2 | Small effect on QoL |
| PA mixed | Dementia | Physical performance test | 10 | Lower-limb strength improved equally in multicomponent interventions and progressive resistance training |
| PA mixed | Dementia | BPSD | 3 | All three RCTs reported significant reductions of BPSD and differences in comparison with the pre-test and control groups |
| PA home-based | Dementia home | Disability | 7 | Significant effect of physical activity on functional ability, particularly on mobility items |
| PA home-based | Dementia home | Mobility | 7 | Significant effect of physical activity on functional ability, particularly on mobility items |
| PA mixed | Dementia nursing home | Cognitive function | 7 | Among 7 RCTs initially included, physical activity improved cognitive measures in two |
| PA mixed | Dementia nursing home | Mood and Depression | 5 | Not clear effect on depression and mood measures |
| PA mixed | Dementia nursing home | Functional ability | 5 | Significant effect of physical activity on functional ability, particularly on mobility items |
| PA mixed | Dementia nursing home | Mobility | 5 | Significant effect of physical activity on functional ability, particularly on mobility items |
| PA mixed | Dementia nursing home | Cognitive function | 5 | There is moderate-to-strong evidence that physical activity can effectively maintain cognitive function in nursing home residents with Dementia |
| PA mixed | Moderate severe dementia | Disability | 5 | In one high-quality study over five, physical activity programs significantly delayed deterioration of ADL performance |
PA physical activity, AD Alzheimer’s disease, BPSD Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms in Dementia, ES Effect Size, CI Confidence interval, NPI Neuropsychiatric Inventory, ZBI Zarit Burden Interview, MMSE Mini-Mental State Examination, TUG Timed Up and Go, QoL Quality of Life, RCTs Randomized Controlled Trials, ADL Activities of daily living