Aerobic Exercise to Improve Executive Language Function In Older Adults

Aging Clinical Trial

Official title:

Aerobic Exercise to Improve Executive Language Function in Older Adults

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT00979069
• Other study ID #: E6860-M
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• First received: September 15, 2009
• Last updated: November 13, 2014
• Start date: September 2010
• Est. completion date: January 2012

Study information

• Verified date: November 2014
• Source: VA Office of Research and Development
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: United States: Federal Government
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of this study is to see if exercise can improve brain function in older adults

Description:

Recently, considerable attention has been devoted to examining the beneficial relationship between cognition and aerobic exercise in older adults. Specifically, the effects are thought to involve higher order cognitive processes, such as working memory, switching between tasks, and inhibiting irrelevant information, all of which are thought to be sub- served, in part, by the frontal lobes (Colcombe et al., 2006). Importantly, these areas also are most susceptible to age-related decline (Raz, 2000) and are essential resources for language production (Kemper & Sumner, 2001; Murray & Lenz, 2001). However, despite promising cognitive improvement, changes in frontally-mediated executive language functions have been widely ignored. This is unfortunate considering impaired word retrieval compromises communicative effectiveness, leading to frustration, depression, and withdrawal. Perhaps more importantly, communication ineffectiveness, particularly in the elderly, leads to difficulties interacting with health care professionals leading to further health care burdens. Since cognition, and specifically word retrieval difficulties, usually remain untreated, it is important to find treatment strategies for minimizing these deficits. Therefore, the short-term goal and the purpose of this proposal is to examine the potential of aerobic exercise to improve executive language function in older adults.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 20
• Est. completion date: January 2012
• Est. primary completion date: January 2012
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: Both
• Age group: 65 Years to 89 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Consent of participants' primary health care physicians to participate in the aerobic exercise.

• Patients must not have participated in any consistent exercise program or experimental study for at least 3 months prior to enrollment.

• They must be capable of providing informed consent and complying with the trial procedures.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Demented as defined by the Modified Mini Mental Status Exam.

• Unalterable travel schedules.

• Site accessibility constraints.

Study Design

Allocation: Randomized, Endpoint Classification: Efficacy Study, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Open Label, Primary Purpose: Treatment

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Aging

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Aerobic group
12 weeks of aerobic exercise 3 times a week

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Atlanta VA Medical and Rehab Center, Decatur, GA	Decatur	Georgia
United States	North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System, Gainesville, FL	Gainesville	Florida

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
VA Office of Research and Development

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

References & Publications (1)

Nocera JR, McGregor KM, Hass CJ, Crosson B. Spin exercise improves semantic fluency in previously sedentary older adults. J Aging Phys Act. 2015 Jan;23(1):90-4. doi: 10.1123/japa.2013-0107. Epub 2014 Jan 14. — View Citation

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Executive Language Functions	The Verbal Fluency Test is demonstrated to be reliable and valid among adults aged 50 to 89 (Delis, et al., 2001; Delis, Kramer, Kaplan, & Hodnack, 2004). The Verbal Fluency Test has three conditions, Letter Verbal Fluency, Category Verbal Fluency, and Switching Verbal Fluency. Each was randomized at pre- and post-12 week timeline and equated for difficulty. Letter Verbal Fluency assesses the number of words beginning with certain letters that participants can generate within 60 seconds,the Category Verbal Fluency assesses the number of words within particular categories participants can generate within 60 seconds, and the Switching Verbal Fluency assesses the number of words while alternating between different categories participants can generate within 60 seconds. For each condition (letter, category, and switching) a total score representing the total number of correct	number of correct words at pre and post separated by 12 weeks	No