. 2024 Jan 8;42(1):43–62. doi: 10.1159/000535272

Table 1.

Characteristics of the included studies

Author (year)	Study design	Country	Sample size	Age, mean	Gender	Intervention	Program types	Intensity and duration	Outcomes
Baek et al. [62] (2021)	RCT	South Korea	34	T – 56.94	Female/male	T– dual-task gait training with treadmill	Combined exercise	Speed ≥80%, 60 min, twice a week, for a period of 6 weeks	In the experimental group, the attentional capacity for dual-task processing improved
Baek et al. [62] (2021)	RCT	South Korea	34	C – 56.13	Female/male	C – single-task gait training with treadmill	Combined exercise	Speed ≥80%, 60 min, twice a week, for a period of 6 weeks
Blanchet et al. [40] (2016)	RCT	Canada	21	All – 61.93	Female/male	T – aerobic training alone	Combined exercise	60–70% of the heart rate reserve and 20–30 min, twice weekly, 8 weeks	Attention improved after an 8-week intervention for both the aerobic training alone group and the combined aerobic and COG group. The results of the control group were suppressed from the final analysis.
						T – combined aerobic and COG
						C – relaxation group
Bo et al. [29] (2019)	RCT	China	225	T Comb – 66.68	Female/male	T – combined intervention of physical exercise and cognitive	Combined exercise	Moderate intensity, and 50 min, 3 times/week, 12 weeks	Combined training produced significantly greater gains in cognitive function after the intervention compared to aerobic training alone or COG alone in stroke survivors with vascular cognitive impairment.
				T – PE – 65.12		T – physical exercise
				T – CT – 67.51		T – COG
				C – 64.36		C – usual care and watched video documentaries
Boss et al. [46] (2017)	RCT	The Netherlands	120	63.00	Female/male	T – aerobic exercise and strength training	Combined exercise	Intensity will gradually be increased, and two 1 h exercise sessions per week, 12 weeks	There was no improvement in either group, as self-reported physical activity was not associated with cognitive performance.
Boss et al. [46] (2017)	RCT	The Netherlands	120	63.00	Female/male	C – usual care	Combined exercise
Chan and Tsang [68] (2017)	RCT	China	26	TC – 63.90	Female/male	T – Tai Chi group	Combined exercise	Unspecified and two 1 h training sessions each week, 12 weeks	Improvement in the Tai Chi group from the pre-assessment to the post-assessment than that of the other groups
				CE – 63.20		T – conventional exercise
				C – 63.20		C – regular activities
Debreceni-Nagy et al. [42] (2019)	RCT	Hungary	37	T – 59.00	Female/male	T – aerobic training by cycle ergometer	Isolated exercise	Low intensity and 30–60 min, 4 weeks	The low-intensity aerobic training group had an additive positive effect on improving special domains of cognitive function compared to the control group.
Debreceni-Nagy et al. [42] (2019)	RCT	Hungary	37	C – 62.00	Female/male	C – conventional physiotherapy	Isolated exercise	Low intensity and 30–60 min, 4 weeks
Deijle et al. [64] (2022)	RCT	The Netherlands	119	T – 34.00	Male	T – aerobic and strength training	Combined exercise	Started at 40%, and was then gradually increased to 80% heart rate, 1-h, 2–3 sessions per week, 12 weeks	No between-group differences were found on global cognitive functioning with the MoCA at 12 weeks
Deijle et al. [64] (2022)	RCT	The Netherlands	119	C – 36.00	Male	C – usual care	Combined exercise
Fernandez-Gonzalo et al. [30] (2016)	RCT	Spain	32	T – 61.20	Female/male	T – resistance training	Combined exercise	High intensity and 2 times/week, 12 weeks	The resistance training group recorded better results in attention, working memory, speed of information processing, executive functions, and no improvement in the control group.
Fernandez-Gonzalo et al. [30] (2016)	RCT	Spain	32	C – 65.70	Female/male	C – daily routines	Combined exercise	High intensity and 2 times/week, 12 weeks
Fischbacher et al. [65] (2020)	RCT	Switzerland	18	76.40	Female	T – Dalcroze eurhythmics program	Combined exercise	Low intensity, 3 × 30 min/week, 12-month	In the two intervention groups, there was no improvement in cognitive performance; on the contrary, there was a decline of −1.0 points for Dalcroze and −1.7 points for SHEP, while in the control group, there was a non-significant improvement of 0.6 points.
						T – simple home exercise program
						C – non-exercise control group
Gjellesvik et al. [48] (2021)	RCT	Norway	70	T – 57.60	Female/male	T – treadmill training	Isolated exercise	High intensity, 3 times per week, 8 weeks.	No benefit found for high-intensity on cognitive function as measured by the MoCA. The intervention group showed significantly greater improvement on TMT-B.
Gjellesvik et al. [48] (2021)	RCT	Norway	70	C– 58.70	Female/male	C– usual care	Isolated exercise	High intensity, 3 times per week, 8 weeks.
Hsu et al. [37] (2020)	RCT	Taiwan	25	T – 58.50	Female/male	T – high-intensity interval training	Isolated exercise	40% to 80% heart rate, 2 to 3 sessions/week, 36 sessions	The high-intensity interval training group showed an increase in cerebral O2 utilization, associated with an increase in serum BDNF levels compared to the moderate-intensity continuous training group.
Hsu et al. [37] (2020)	RCT	Taiwan	25	C – 53.10	Female/male	C – moderate-intensity continuous training	Isolated exercise	40% to 80% heart rate, 2 to 3 sessions/week, 36 sessions
Hsu et al. [31] (2018)	RCT	Canada	70	T – 71.70	Female/male	T – aerobic training	Isolated exercise	Moderate intensity, 60 min, 3 times per week, 6 months	The aerobic training group significantly improved reaction time performance compared to the control group.
Hsu et al. [31] (2018)	RCT	Canada	70	C – 72.30	Female/male	C – usual care and educational materials	Isolated exercise	Moderate intensity, 60 min, 3 times per week, 6 months
Hung et al. [38] (2017)	RCT	Taiwan	43	T – W – 55.66	Male	T– Wii fit	Combined exercise	Unspecified, 30 min, 2 times per week, 12 weeks	The Wii Fit group had greater gains in abstraction/judgment domain, and language domain than the other 2 groups after intervention
				T – 60.90		T – Tetrax
				C – 51.75		C – conventional weight-shifting training
Ihle-Hansen et al. [49] (2019	RCT	Norway	362	T – 71.40	Female/male	T – aerobic	Isolated exercise	Moderate to intensity, 30 to 45–60 min, 2–3 times per week, 18 months	No clinically relevant effect of this program was found on cognitive functioning after 18 months compared with usual care
Ihle-Hansen et al. [49] (2019	RCT	Norway	362	C – 72.00	Female/male	C – usual care	Isolated exercise
Ji and Yu [67] (2018)	RCT	China	58	T – 62.17	Unspecified gender	T – yoga training	Isolated exercise	Unspecified, 30–60 min, 12 weeks	The mean and standard deviation of brain wave fluctuations in the experimental group were significantly higher than those in the control group.
Ji and Yu [67] (2018)	RCT	China	58	C – 61.29	Unspecified gender	C – conventional rehabilitation therapy	Isolated exercise	Unspecified, 30–60 min, 12 weeks
Kashyap et al. [43] (2022)	RCT	India	80	T – 52.85	Female/male	T – yoga training	Isolated exercise	Unspecified, 4–5 days/week, 3 months	Significant improvements in both groups were more pronounced in the yoga group.
Kashyap et al. [43] (2022)	RCT	India	80	C – 55.18	Female/male	C – usual care	Isolated exercise	Unspecified, 4–5 days/week, 3 months
Kim and Yim [44] (2017)	RCT	South Korea	29	T – 50.71	Female/male	T – handgrip strength and walking training	Combined exercise	Intensity increased according to the participant’s level, 30–60 min, 5 times per week, 6 weeks	Significant increase was found only in the exercise group on K-MoCA test. However, the difference between the two groups was not significant on TMT and Stroop test
Kim and Yim [44] (2017)	RCT	South Korea	29	C – 51.87	Female/male	C – neuro-developmental treatment	Combined exercise
Koch et al. [50] (2020)	RCT	USA	131	T – 59.00	Female/male	T – combined aerobic and resistance training	Combined exercise	50–65% of heart rate reserve, 40–60 min, 3 times per 12 weeks	Significantly improved in the intervention group, but not in the control group.
Koch et al. [50] (2020)	RCT	USA	131	C – 58.00	Female/male	C – sham combined aerobic and resistance training	Combined exercise
Steen Krawcyk et al. [39] (2019)		Denmark	71	T – 63.70	Male	T – high-intensity interval training	Isolated exercise	High intensity 3 × 3 min with 2 min of active recovery, 5 days per week for 12 weeks	No changes were detected between groups in cognitive performance.
Steen Krawcyk et al. [39] (2019)		Denmark	71	C – 63.70	Male	C – usual care	Isolated exercise
Liu-Ambrose et al. [51] (2022)	RCT	Canada	120	T – 70.65	Female/male	T – multicomponent exercise training	Combined exercise	60 min, twice weekly, 6 months	Multicomponent exercises induced clinically important improvements in cognitive function.
				T – 71.29		T – cognitive and social enrichment activities			Stretching and toning exercises improved compared with cognitive and social enrichment activities
				C – 70.42		C – stretching and toning exercises
Liu-Ambrose and Eng [63] (2015)	RCT	Canada	25	T – 62.90	Male	T – resistance, aerobic exercise	Combined exercise	Unspecified, 60 min, 2 times per week, 9-month	The experimental group significantly improved selective attention and conflict resolution, working memory compared to the control group
Liu-Ambrose and Eng [63] (2015)	RCT	Canada	25	C – 66.90	Male	C – usual care	Combined exercise	Unspecified, 60 min, 2 times per week, 9-month
Meester et al. [45] (2019)	RCT	UK	50	T – 60.85	Female/male	T – dual-task treadmill training	Combined exercise	55−85% heart rate maximum, 30 min, 20 sessions divided over 10 weeks	Experimental group increased mean (SD) two-minute walking distance from 90.7 (8.2) to 103.5 (8.2) meters, compared with 86.7 (8.5) to 92.8 (8.6) in the control group. There were no differences in other measures
Meester et al. [45] (2019)	RCT	UK	50	C – 62.25	Female/male	C – control treadmill training	Combined exercise
Moore et al. [52] (2015)	RCT	UK	40	T – 68.00	Female/male	T – warm-up, stretching, functional strengthening	Combined exercise	40–80% of their maximum heart rate, 45–60 min, 3 times/week, 19 weeks	Significant within-group improvements were only made in the exercise group in cognition and stroke recover.
Moore et al. [52] (2015)	RCT	UK	40	C – 70.00	Female/male	C – stretching training	Combined exercise
Pallesen et al. [53] (2019)	RCT	Norway	30	T – 55.00	Female/male	T – high-intensity exercise	Isolated exercise	60–70% heart rate, 20 min, 2 times per week, 4 weeks,	The high-intensity group, compared to the low-intensity group, achieved significant improvements in cognitive performance.
Pallesen et al. [53] (2019)	RCT	Norway	30	C – 50.00	Female/male	C – low-intensity exercise	Isolated exercise	60–70% heart rate, 20 min, 2 times per week, 4 weeks,
Ploughman et al. [54] (2019)	RCT	Canada	52	63.00	Female/male	T – aerobic + COG	Combined exercise	Moderate to vigorous intensity, 20–30 min, 3 times, 10 weeks,	The aerobic + COG group was the only group in which the improvement was significantly greater than the active control group (activity + games)
						T – aerobic + games
						T – activity + COG
						C – activity + games
Rathnamala et al. [66] (2020)	RCT	India	60	Unspecified	Female	T – physical activity with COG group	Combined exercise	Moderate-high, 50 min, 5 days per week for 12 weeks	The experimental group significantly improved cognitive performance compared to the control group
Rathnamala et al. [66] (2020)	RCT	India	60	Unspecified	Female	C – COG group	Combined exercise	Moderate-high, 50 min, 5 days per week for 12 weeks
Rosenfeldt et al. [47] (2019)	RCT	USA	40	T – 51.00	Female/male	T – FE + RTP	Combined exercise	High intensity, 90 min, 8 weeks	The FE + RTP group showed improvements in the cognitive domain of memory, and in the other two groups there was no improvement in any cognitive domain.
				T – 60.00		T – VE + RTP
				C – 58.00		C – EDU+RTP
Shang et al. [55] (2021)	RCT	China	76	T – 63.68	Female/male	T – grip training + conventional physiotherapy	Isolated exercise	50 min/5 sessions/12 weeks	The experimental group significantly improved their MoCA score compared to the control group.
Shang et al. [55] (2021)	RCT	China	76	C – 64.13	Female/male	C – conventional physiotherapy	Isolated exercise	50 min/5 sessions/12 weeks
Song et al. [56] (2021)	RCT	Korea	34	T – 58.72	Female/male	T – Tai Chi group	Combined exercise	Low-intensity, 50 min, twice a week for 6 months	Compared with control group, the participants in the Tai Chi showed significant improvements cognitive function
Song et al. [56] (2021)	RCT	Korea	34	C – 57.18	Female/male	C – symptom management program.	Combined exercise	Low-intensity, 50 min, twice a week for 6 months
Tang et al. [57] (2016)	RCT	Canada	50	T – 66.00	Female/male	T – high-intensity aerobic exercise	Isolated exercise	High versus low intensity, 60 min, 3 times/week, 6 months	There was no association between pre-exercise cognitive function and post-exercise improvement
Tang et al. [57] (2016)	RCT	Canada	50	C – 64.00	Female/male	C – balance and flexibility	Isolated exercise	High versus low intensity, 60 min, 3 times/week, 6 months
Timmermans et al. [58], (2021)	RCT	The Netherlands	40	T – 52.00	Female/male	T – treadmill-based C-Mill therapy	Combined exercise	Unspecified, 90 min, twice a week, 5 weeks	Group showed a tendency to a greater improvement in cognitive with cognitive dual-task compared to the FP group
Timmermans et al. [58], (2021)	RCT	The Netherlands	40	C – 59.00	Female/male	C – standard overground FALLS	Combined exercise	Unspecified, 90 min, twice a week, 5 weeks
Yeh et al. [59] (2021)	RCT	Taiwan	56	Seq – 53.05	Female/male	SEQ	Combined exercise	40–50% gradually increased to 60–70% heart rate, 30–60 min, 12 weeks	The SEQ group improved significantly at the MoCA compared with the AE and COG groups, but no between-group difference was found for the AE and COG groups.
				AE – 57.36		AE
				Cog – 60.17		COG
Yeh et al. [60] (2019)	RCT	Taiwan	30	T – 50.63	Female/male	T – SEQ	Combined exercise	30 min and 40–70% heart rate, 12–18 weeks	The SEQ group had significantly improved cognitive performance after training compared to the control group
Yeh et al. [60] (2019)	RCT	Taiwan	30	C – 60.21	Female/male	C – nonaerobic physical exercise	Combined exercise	30 min and 40–70% heart rate, 12–18 weeks
Zheng et al. [61] (2020)	RCT	China	48	T – 61.63	Female/male	T – Baduanjin training	Combined exercise	Low to high intensity, 3 days a week and 40 min, 24 weeks	Improvement significant in the Baduanjin group for MoCA. Mean between-group differences were significantly lower (p < 0.05) for TMT-A and TMT-B tests in the Baduanjin group compared with controls
Zheng et al. [61] (2020)	RCT	China	48	C – 62.75	Female/male	C – any specific exercise training	Combined exercise	Low to high intensity, 3 days a week and 40 min, 24 weeks

AE, aerobic exercise training; C, control; COG, cognitive training; TMT, Trail Making Test; T, treatment; RCT, randomized controlled trial; FE + RTP, forced exercise repetitive task practice; MoCA, Montreal Cognitive Assessment; SEQ, sequential training; VE + RTP, voluntary exercise + repetitive task practice; EDU + RTP, education + repetitive task practice.