Table 7.
Mapping of outcomes and summary of main findings of included SRs and meta-analyses
| Outcome | Study ID | Disease/condition | Instruments (no. of studies) | Intervention vs control (no. of participants) | Estimate of effect (95% CI), p, I-square | GRADE certainty |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Global cognition | Wang et al. (2018) [23] | Cognitive impairment, mild cognitive impairment or dementia |
MMSE; ADAS-cog; MoCA (5: 1 RCT, 4 CCT) |
TC (n = 249) vs health talk, muscle-stretching, and toning exercise, usual lifestyle, usual care, health education (n = 325) | SMD = 0.40 (− 0.13, 0.93), 0.14, 88% | Very low |
| Wei et al. (2020) [2] | Mild cognitive impairment |
MMSE; MoCA; ADAS-Cog (8: 4 RCT, 4 non-RCT) |
TC (n = 353) vs stretching and toning exercise, related health education, maintaining usual daily physical activities (n = 427) | MD = 1.98 (1.32, 2.65), 0.00001, 74% | Moderate | |
| Yang et al. (2020) [4] | Mild cognitive impairment |
MMSE (5 RCTs) |
TC (n = 363) vs stretching and toning exercise, Escitalopram plus health education, nonathletic activities (playing cards or singing), education (n = 495) | SMD = 0.40 (0.08, 0.73), 0.02, 79% | Very low | |
| Yang et al. (2020) [4] | Mild cognitive impairment |
ADAS-Cog (2 RCTs) |
TC (n = 363) vs stretching and toning exercise (n = 227) | SMD = 0.38, (0.22, 0.55), 0.00001, 0% | Moderate | |
| Zhang et al. (2020) [16] | Mild cognitive impairment |
MMSE (5 RCTs) |
TC (n = 325) vs cognitive behaviour therapy, usual care, stretching, health education, recreational activities (n = 460) | MD = 0.29, (− 0.16, 0.74), 0.21, 0% | Moderate | |
| Yang et al. (2020) [4] | Mild cognitive impairment |
CDR-SOB (2 RCTs) |
TC (n = 363) vs stretching and toning exercise (n = 227) | SMD = 0.44, (0.24, 0.64), 0.0001, 27% | Moderate | |
| Memory | Wang et al. (2018) [23] | Cognitive impairment, mild cognitive impairment or dementia |
MIC; delayed recall; Logical memory delayed recall (3: 2 RCT, 1 CCT) |
TC (n = 152) vs Health talk (nonactive attention placebo), Muscle-stretching and toning exercise, health education (n = 227) | SMD = 0.40 (− 0.10, 0.90), 0.11, 75% | Very low |
| Zou et al. (2019) [24] | Mild cognitive impairment |
Short-term memory: Delayed Recall Test, the Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test (4: 2 RCT, 2 CCT) |
TC (n = 226) vs educational class, unaltered lifestyle, memory training (not specified) | SMD = 0.77 (0.45–1.09), 0.001, 23.8% | Low | |
| Zhang et al. (2020) [16] | Mild cognitive impairment |
Delayed Recall test (4 RCTs) |
TC (n = 297) vs stretching, daily activity, health education (n = 429) | MD = 0.37 (0.13, 0.61), 0.002, 7% | High | |
| Attention | Wei et al. (2020) [2] | Mild cognitive impairment |
Digit span test (forward) (2: 1 RCT, 1 non-RCT) |
TC (n = 105) vs maintaining usual daily physical activities, stretching, and toning exercise (n = 182) | SMD = 0.57 (− 0.25, 1.40), 0.17, 74% | Low |
| Wei et al. (2020) [2] | Mild cognitive impairment |
Digit span test (backward) (2: 1 RCT, 1 non-RCT) |
TC (n = 105) vs maintaining usual daily physical activities, stretching, and toning exercise (n = 182) | SMD = 0.03 (− 0.22, 0.27), 0.83, 0% | Low | |
| Executive function | Wang et al. (2018) [23] | Cognitive impairment, mild cognitive impairment or dementia |
Digit span forward–backward; TMT B minus A (B-A), digit span; CVFT; Chinese TMT-A; Chinese TMT-B (2: 1 RCT, 1 CCT) |
TC (n = 125) vs muscle-stretching and toning exercise, health education (n = 202) | SMD = 0.10 (− 0.16, 0.35), 0.46, 13% | Low |
| Wei et al. (2020) [2] | Mild cognitive impairment |
The trail-making test (3: 1 RCT, 2 non-RCT) |
TC (n = 102) vs maintaining usual daily physical activities, related health education (n = 107) | SMD = − 0.79 (− 1.08, − 0.51), 0.00001, 0% | Low | |
| Performance ability | Zhang et al. (2020) [16] | Mild cognitive impairment | Digit Span Test (DST) (4 RCTs) | TC (n = 297) vs stretching, daily activity, health education (n = 429) | MD = 0.03 (− 0.16, 0.22), 0.77, 0% | Moderate |
| Verbal fluency | Zhang et al. (2020) [16] | Mild cognitive impairment | Category Verbal Fluency Test (CVFT) (2 RCTs) | TC (n = 231) vs stretching (n = 363) | MD = 0.47 (− 0.76, 1.70), 0.45, 0% | Moderate |
| Visual span | Zhang et al. (2020) [16] | Mild cognitive impairment |
Visual Span Test (VST) or Block Design Test (BDT) (4 RCTs) |
TC (n = 297) vs stretching, health education, daily activity (n = 429) | SMD = 0.57 (0.23, 0.91), 0.0009, 75% | Moderate |
| Depressive symptoms | Zhang et al. (2020) [16] | Mild cognitive impairment |
Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) or Cornell Depression Score (CDS) (4 RCTs) |
TC (n = 297) vs stretching, cognitive behaviour therapy, usual care (n = 433) | SMD = 0 (− 0.14, 0.15), 0.95, 0% | Moderate |
Abbreviations: ADAS-cog Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-cognitive, CVFT Category Verbal Fluency Test, CDR-SOB Clinical Dementia Rating Scale Sum of Boxes, MIC Mini-Cog, MMSE Mini-Mental State Examination, MoCA Montreal Cognitive Assessment, TMT Trail Making Test