Physical Exercise as an Additional Treatment for Alzheimer Disease

The state of the art with regard to the neurodegenerative dementias, especially for Alzheimer´s disease (AD), is that their progression is still irreversible causing cognitive, motor, and behavioral impairment. Although the current pharmacological treatments attenuate cognitive decline in some cases, the majority of treatments does not avoid the motor and functional changes caused by the progress of the disease. Although several studies show that exercise has a positive effect when it comes to the treatment of the disease, some methodological questions affect the application of the training protocols. The use of recognized intensity patterns like maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) and maximum heart rate (HRmax) percentage to control the training of patients with dementia is still rare in the literature. Therefore, this seems to interfere on the definition of an ideal prescription. Following this line of reasoning, the purpose of the present study is to assess the effect of moderate aerobic exercise on cognition and functional abilities in AD patients. Design: Randomized controlled trial, double-blinded, with 16-week follow-up. Setting: Center for Alzheimer's disease in the Institute of Psychiatry of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Participants: Elderly with Alzheimer disease. Interventions: The patients will be randomly assigned to an exercise group (EG) on a treadmill (30 minutes, twice a week and moderate intensity of 60% VO2max) and a control group (CG). Main outcome measures: Cognitive function will be assessed using CAMCOG, Trail Making Test A, Digit Span, Stroop Test, Rey auditory-verbal learning test and Clock Test, and functional capacity will be evaluated using Berg Balance Scale (BERG), Sit-to-Stand test (STS), functional reach test (FR), and the time to up and go test (TUGT).