COPENHAGEN – When older adults who were at risk of Alzheimer’s disease adopted more healthful lifestyles, including diet and exercise, their cognitive performance improved, according to findings from a 2-year randomized, controlled trial.
The study is yet more proof that "it’s never too late to adopt a healthful lifestyle," said Dr. Ralph A. Nixon, chair of the Alzheimer’s Association Medical and Scientific Advisory Council.
The multimodal intervention study, called the Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability (FINGER), added nutritional guidance, physical exercise, cognitive training, and vascular risk factor management to the treatment of half of 1,260 participants who were between ages 60 and 77 years. The other half of participants received regular health advice.
To their surprise, researchers achieved their primary outcome – improvement in cognitive performance – within 2 years. In fact, the benefit was significant in all cognitive domains, including memory, executive function, and psychomotor speed, compared with the control group.
Only 11% of the participants dropped out. There were no serious adverse events.
This is the first long-term study to assess the impact of simultaneous improvement of several lifestyle factors on elderly cognition, the investigators said. The researchers are now conducting cost analysis, and they plan to follow the patients for 7 years to assess the longer-term effect of the interventions.
The findings demonstrate that multidomain intervention is feasible and can reduce the risk of cognitive impairment among the at-risk elderly population, said the study’s lead investigator, Dr. Miia Kivipelto. She hopes that this proof-of-concept study becomes a model for future programs in this group.
In a video interview, Dr. Kivipelto, a professor at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, discusses the study’s findings and its implications for clinical practice.
The video associated with this article is no longer available on this site. Please view all of our videos on the MDedge YouTube channel.
On Twitter @naseemmiller