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International Ballroom Dancing Against Neurodegeneration: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Greek Community-Dwelling Elders With Mild Cognitive impairment

Ioulietta Lazarou, Themis Parastatidis, A. Tsolaki, M. Gkioka, A. Karakostas, S. Douka, M. Tsolaki

American Journal of Alzheimers Disease & Other Dementias, 2017

66 participants · 185 citations

Abstract

Background: Many studies have highlighted the positive effects of dance in people with neurodegenerative diseases. Objectives: To explore the effects of International Ballroom Dancing on cognitive function in elders with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). Methods: One-hundred twenty-nine elderly patients with aMCI diagnosis (mean age 66.8 ± 10.1 years) were randomly assigned into 2 groups: intervention group (IG, n = 66) and control group (CG, n = 63). The IG exercised systematically for 10 months, and both groups were submitted to extensive neuropsychological assessment prior and after the 10-month period. Results: According to the independent sample t test at the follow-up, significant differences between groups were found in benefit of the IG while the CG showed worse performance in the majority of neuropsychological tests. According to the Student t test, better performance is detected in IG in contrast with CG, which had worse performance almost in all scales. Conclusion: Dance may be an important nonpharmacological approach that can benefit cognitive functions.

How strong is the evidence?

Evidence Hub reads this as a randomized trial, done in people. Its evidence level is 2 of 5 (High · randomized trial). Randomized trials of a reasonable size are the strongest single-study design. Reported size: 66 participants or records.

How the five levels of evidence work. The level is assigned automatically from the abstract and can be wrong, so check the paper.

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