To determine whether physic
al
activity m
ay
affect cognitive perform
ance in p
atients with P
arkinson's dise
ase by me
asuring re
action times in p
atients p
articip
ating in the Berlin BIG study.
absSec_2">Design
abspara0015">Randomized controlled trial, rater-blinded.
absSec_3">Setting
abspara0020">Ambulatory care.
absSec_4">Participants
abspara0025">Patients with mild to moderate Parkinson's disease (N=60) were randomly allocated to 3 treatment arms. Outcome was measured at the termination of training and at follow-up 16 weeks after baseline in 58 patients (completers).
absSec_5">Interventions
abspara0030">Patients received 16 hours of individual Lee Silverman Voice Treatment-BIG training (BIG; duration of treatment, 4wk), 16 hours of group training with Nordic Walking (WALK; duration of treatment, 8wk), or nonsupervised domestic exercise (HOME; duration of instruction, 1hr).
absSec_6">Main Outcome Measures
abspara0035">Cued reaction time (cRT) and noncued reaction time (nRT).
absSec_7">Results
abspara0040">Differences between treatment groups in improvement in reaction times from baseline to intermediate and baseline to follow-up assessments were observed for cRT but not for nRT. Pairwise t test comparisons revealed differences in change in cRT at both measurements between BIG and HOME groups (intermediate: −52ms; 95% confidence interval [CI], −84/−20; P=.002; follow-up: 55ms; CI, −105/−6; P=.030) and between WALK and HOME groups (intermediate: −61ms; CI, −120/−2; P=.042; follow-up: −78ms; CI, −136/−20; P=.010). There was no difference between BIG and WALK groups (intermediate: 9ms; CI, −49/67; P=.742; follow-up: 23ms; CI, −27/72; P=.361).
absSec_8">Conclusion
abspara0045">Supervised physical exercise with Lee Silverman Voice Treatment-BIG or Nordic Walking is associated with improvement in cognitive aspects of movement preparation.
