Kouloutbani K, Karteroliotis K, Politis A
School of Physical Education and Sport Science, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
1st Department of Psychiatry, Eginition Hospital, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
Psychiatriki. 2019 Apr-Jun;30(2):142-155. doi: 10.22365/jpsych.2019.302.142.
Τhe rate of patients suffering from mild cognitive impairment or any type of dementia has been constantly on the rise. Considering that no effective treatment of dementia has been discovered to date and that drug use can have numerous side effects, there is an urgent need for the application of alternative, non-pharmacological interventions. To this end, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of physical activity on the cognitive impairment of the elderly, and its use as a form of non-pharmacological intervention for the treatment of dementia. Taking a review of the relevant literature, as its data collection method, this study examined peer-reviewed papers published between 2010 and 2018 that met the criteria for their inclusion. The articles were drawn from three electronic databases (PubMed, ScienceDirect and Web of Science), and were examined with regard to the populations under consideration, research design, type of intervention programs and assessment tools applied. The vast majority of these research papers tend to support that physical activity offers significant benefits to people suffering from Alzheimer's disease or other dementias. Specifically, it helps stabilize and improve cognitive function as well as reduce and delay the onset of severe neuropsychiatric symptoms such as depression, confusion, apathy, etc. In addition, physical exercise plays an important role in improving the executive functioning of patients with dementia, increasing autonomy in their everyday activities and reducing the risk of falls. In conclusion, recent research shows physical activity to be a promising intervention for the prevention and non-pharmacological treatment of dementia in that it contributes to the improvement of patients' quality of life. However, results vary according to the particularly characteristics of the exercise under review, such as type, intensity, frequency, and duration. It is therefore important to gain both awareness and understanding of the specific factors that give physical activity its therapeutic potential leading to the development of exercise programs designed specially to treat dementia.
患有轻度认知障碍或任何类型痴呆症的患者比例一直在持续上升。鉴于迄今为止尚未发现有效的痴呆症治疗方法，且药物使用可能会产生诸多副作用，因此迫切需要应用替代性的非药物干预措施。为此，本研究的目的是调查体育活动对老年人认知障碍的影响，以及将其用作治疗痴呆症的一种非药物干预形式。本研究采用回顾相关文献作为数据收集方法，审查了2010年至2018年期间发表的符合纳入标准的同行评审论文。这些文章来自三个电子数据库（PubMed、ScienceDirect和Web of Science），并根据所考虑的人群、研究设计、干预项目类型和应用的评估工具进行了审查。这些研究论文中的绝大多数倾向于支持体育活动对患有阿尔茨海默病或其他痴呆症的人有显著益处。具体而言，它有助于稳定和改善认知功能，以及减少和延缓严重神经精神症状如抑郁、困惑、冷漠等的发作。此外，体育锻炼在改善痴呆症患者的执行功能、增加他们日常活动的自主性以及降低跌倒风险方面发挥着重要作用。总之，最近的研究表明体育活动是预防和非药物治疗痴呆症的一种有前景的干预措施，因为它有助于提高患者的生活质量。然而，结果会因所审查运动的具体特征（如类型、强度、频率和持续时间）而有所不同。因此，重要的是要了解和认识赋予体育活动治疗潜力的具体因素，从而制定专门用于治疗痴呆症的运动项目。
