Effects Of Aerobic Dance On Cognition Of Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment And Its Neuroimaing Influences

Backgroud and obsjectives:The elderly with mild cognitive impairment(MCI)is the early clinical stage of dementia,which is a cognitive functional defect state between normal aging and dementia Amnestic MCI(aMCI)was associate with greater risk for progression to Alzheimer's disease(AD).Previous studies showed that the moderate intensity exercise could reduce the risk of MCI.Meanwhile,two latest studies indicated the positive effects of dance on cognition of patients with MCI.However,there were no reports about neuroimaing changes after intervention.This study aimed to investigate the effects of aerobic dance on cognition of patients with MCI and its neuroimaging influencesMethods:As a single blinding design,60 patients with MCI who met the inclusion criteria were randonmized into the aerobic dance group and the control group.Participants in aerobic dance group accepted three months morderate intensity aerobic dance which was 35 minutes a session and three times a week.The outcome measurements were assessed for all patients at baseline,3 months,and 6 months,which included Montreal cognitive assessment(MoCA),Wechsler memory scale-revised logical memory test(WMSR-R),symbol digit modalities test(SDMT),Trail making test(TMT),forward and backward digit span task(DST)(Chinese version),functional activities questionnaire(FAQ),36-item short form health survey(SF-36)(Chinese version)and event-related potential(P300 latency and amplitude).Participants met the requirements of resting-sate functional magnetic resonance imaging(RS-fMRI)accepted MRI scan before and after 3 months' intervention.Results:Sixty patients were randomized to receive either intervention(n=29)or control(n=31).The characteristics of patients in the aerobic dance group and control group were similar at baseline.The cognitive function,quality of life,and physical activity parameters were also comparable between patients in different groups Patients in the aerobic dance group showed improvements at 3 months and 6 months in WMSR-LR,MoCA and SDMT(p<0.05)compared to baseline.They showed significant improvement at 3 months in P300 latency(p<0.05)and at 6 month in TMT-a and SF-36.However,patients control group showed improvment at 3 months and 6 months in MoCA(p<0.05),and drop DST,prolonged SDMT and P300 latency(p<0.05)at 6 months,which indicated the cognitive decline over 6 months.Compared to patients in the control group,patients in the aerobic dance group showed greater improvement in WMSR-LM at three months(p<0.01)and shortened P300 latency at 6 months(p<0.05).We assessed the amplitude of low frequency fluctuation(ALFF)changes between the baseline and 3-month to evaluate the intervention effect on each group.The aerobic dance group showed a dramatic increment of ALFF in bilateral fronto-temporal,entorhinal,anterior cingulate and parohippocampal cortex,while in control group,there was no significant difference in those areas above and only small areas of functional activation appeared in the right temporal and posterior cingulate cortex.Conclusion:The moderate intensity aerobic dance can improve the episodic memory and processing speed of the aMCI patients.Meanwhile,the RS-fMRI showed increased brain activation in fronto-parietal network(FPN)and memory related cortex compared with baseline after 3-month intervention.