Open AccessA social dancing pilot intervention for older adults at high risk for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias
Author(s) -
Helena M. Blumen,
Emmeline Ayers,
Cuiling Wang,
Anne Felicia Ambrose,
Joe Verghese
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
neurodegenerative disease management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.674
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1758-2032
pISSN - 1758-2024
DOI - 10.2217/nmt-2020-0002
Subject(s) - dementia , intervention (counseling) , physical medicine and rehabilitation , disease , medicine , randomized controlled trial , psychology , physical therapy , alzheimer's disease , gerontology , psychiatry
Close to 6 million older US adults have Alzheimer's disease or related dementias, yet there is currently no cure or effective treatment. This single-blind randomized controlled trial (clinicaltrials.gov: NCT03475316) aims to establish feasibility, and explore the relative efficacy, of a 6-month social ballroom dancing intervention versus a 6-month active control intervention (treadmill walking) for improving executive function in 32 older adults at increased risk for Alzheimer's disease or related dementias. Dementia-at-risk status is determined with cut-scores on the memory impairment screen (≥3 to ≤6) and/or the AD8 Dementia Screening Interview (≥1). The primary outcome is a composite executive function score from digit-symbol substitution, flanker interference and walking-while-talking tasks. The secondary outcome is functional neuroplasticity during fMRI-adapted versions of digit-symbol substitution, flanker interference and walking-while-talking.