Nagamatsu Lindsay S, Ford Sabrina D
1School of Kinesiology, Western University, 3M Centre, Room 2225, London, ON N6A 5B9 Canada.
2Department of Neuroscience, Western University, Robarts Research Institute, RRI 3203, London, ON N6A 3K7 Canada.
Pilot Feasibility Stud. 2019 Feb 11;5:22. doi: 10.1186/s40814-019-0413-x. eCollection 2019.
Falls are a major health care concern for our aging population. Previous research has identified impaired sustained attention as a risk factor for falls. Recently, meditation has been shown to improve different types of attention in various populations. However, there are no studies to date examining whether meditation training can improve sustained attention and mobility in older adults.
We are conducting a 4-week proof-of-concept meditation intervention. We will recruit community-dwelling older adults. Participants will be randomized into one of two groups: (1) meditation training or (2) music listening (control). All participants will complete three 20-min group sessions per week and will be encouraged to continue their practice independently on the remaining days each week. Our primary outcome measure is behavioral performance on the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART). Our secondary and tertiary outcomes include electroencephalograms (EEG) to assess attention and cognitive processing, mobility, and executive function.
Our proof-of-concept intervention aims to examine whether meditation training can improve sustained attention in older adults, who are known to be susceptible to falls. Importantly, our research has the potential to inform future clinical trials aimed at improving mobility and reducing falls risk in our aging population.
Clinicaltrials.gov ID NCT03417635.
跌倒对于老年人群而言是一个重大的医疗保健问题。先前的研究已将持续注意力受损确定为跌倒的一个风险因素。最近，冥想已被证明能改善不同人群的各类注意力。然而，迄今为止尚无研究探讨冥想训练是否能改善老年人的持续注意力和活动能力。
我们正在进行一项为期4周的冥想干预概念验证研究。我们将招募居住在社区的老年人。参与者将被随机分为两组之一：（1）冥想训练组或（2）音乐聆听组（对照组）。所有参与者每周将参加三次20分钟的小组课程，并将被鼓励在每周其余日子独立继续练习。我们的主要结局指标是持续注意力反应任务（SART）中的行为表现。我们的次要和三级结局包括用于评估注意力和认知加工、活动能力及执行功能的脑电图（EEG）。
我们的概念验证干预旨在研究冥想训练是否能改善已知易跌倒的老年人的持续注意力。重要的是，我们的研究有可能为未来旨在改善老年人活动能力和降低跌倒风险的临床试验提供信息。
Clinicaltrials.gov标识符NCT03417635。
