Changes in cognitive function after a 12-week exercise intervention in adults with Down syndrome.
Lauren T Ptomey, Amanda N Szabo, Erik A Willis and 4 others
PMID 29501470WHAT IT FOUND
Twelve weeks of home-based video exercise did not significantly change attention or reaction time.
However, participants doing two sessions per week showed large improvements in memory tasks compared to those doing one, though the study was not powered to confirm this.
Key findings
01There were no significant group, time, or interaction effects for attention switching or reaction time outcomes.
02Both groups improved on a memory error measure over 12 weeks, but the difference between the one-session and two-session groups approached significance, with large effect sizes favoring the two-session group.
03The study was not powered to detect changes in cognitive function scores and lacked a non-exercise control group.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The sample size was very small (n=27), and the study was not powered to detect changes in cognitive function, making the findings exploratory. There was no non-exercise control group, so it is impossible to know if the observed improvements were due to the exercise, natural variation, or practice effects from repeated testing. The participants were mostly white (89%) and required home internet access, limiting generalizability to more diverse populations. Physical activity data only included minutes from the intervention sessions, not total daily activity, so the overall dose-response relationship is unclear.
Declared interests
No author has any conflicts of interest to declare.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that twice-weekly exercise significantly improves memory compared to once-weekly exercise. The difference between groups only approached significance (p=0.054) and the study was not powered for this outcome, so the result is suggestive but not proven.