Effect Of Finger Exercises On Cognitive Function And Hippocampal Volume In Patients With Alzheimer’s Disease

Objective To investigate the influence of finger exercises on cognitive function and hippocampal volume in patients with Alzheimer’s disease(AD),and to provide a new possibility for AD’s prevention and treatment.Methods 60 cases of mild to moderate AD patients,who were from the outpatient mental health department of Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital at first visit,were randomly divided into control group(30 cases)and the experimental group(30 cases).Patients in the control group received donepezil 10 mg per day,while patients in the experimental group were given donepezil 10 mg per day combined with finger exercises.The participants in the experimental group were asked to perform at least 3 times a week and at least 20 minutes each finger exercises,namely exercising every week for no less than 60 minutes.Participants from both groups were assessed with Mini Mental State Examination(MMSE),Montreal Cognitive Assessment(MoCA)and Activity of Daily Living Scale(ADL)at baseline,and months 3,6,and 12.Brain MRI collection was performed at baseline and after completion of intervention.Results 21 patients in the experimental group and 24 in the control group were included in the final analysis.The results are as follows:(1)MMSE scores of the experimental group had a rising trend,and meanwhile the trend of ADL scores decreased after the intervention,the differences were statistically significant(P<0.05).And in terms of MoCA scores,although there was a slight upward trend,the differences were not statistically significant(P>0.05);(2)MMSE scores of the control group had a rising trend after the intervention,and there was a downturn in the ADL scores.The differences were statistically significant(P<0.05).Again,although MoCA scores had a rising trend,but there was no statistically significant difference(P>0.05);(3)The MMSE scores of the experimental group rose slowly compared to the control group,but the MMSE scores of the control group fell after the third months,so there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups(P>0.05);(4)Both group had a slight upward trend on the MoCA scores,but the differences between them had no statistical significance(P>0.05);(5)The control group had a bad performance in ADL scores for there existing a down firstly and then up trend.And though ADL scores of the experimental group had a marked fall,the differences between groups were not statistically significant(P>0.05);(6)The volume of hippocampus of both group increased in varying degrees after the intervention,however the increase was not statistically significant in both group respectively(P>0.05).And still no statistical differences between the experimental group and the control group were observed in hippocampal volume,even though the experimental group had a growth(about 2.7%)higher than that of control group(about 0.9%)(P>0.05).Conclusion Firstly,AD patients’ cognitive function improved significantly after donepezil treatment;secondly,AD patients’ cognitive function was significantly improved after the intervention of finger exercises combined with donepezil;thirdly,60 minutes’ finger exercises intervention in this study had no significant improvement in cognitive function in patients with AD;fourthly,the pure donepezil intervention had no significant effect on hippocampal volume;Fifthly,the 60 minutes’ finger exercises intervention in this study had no significant effect on the hippocampal volume in AD patients.