Neuropsychological outcome of cognitive training in mild to moderate dementia: A randomized controlled trial

ABSTRACT

Effectiveness of a 12-week cognitive training (CT) programme for community-dwelling patients with dementia was evaluated on various cognitive functions (attention, memory, executive functions and reasoning) and psychological well-being (PWB). A single-blind randomized controlled trial was conducted in adult day care centres in Helsinki, Finland. Participants (N = 147) were older individuals with mild to moderate dementia living at home and attending day care (mean age 83 years, 72% female, 63% at mild stage of dementia). The intervention group (n = 76) received systematic CT for 45 min twice a week while the control group (n = 71) attended day care as usual. The cognitive and psychological outcomes were measured at baseline, and followed up at 3 and 9 months. No differences between the two groups in changes of any of the cognitive functions, or PWB over time were found. We observed a positive trend at 3 months in the change for PWB favouring the intervention group, but no significant interaction effect was found (p = .079; d = −0.31). Thus, systematic CT appears to have no effect on neuropsychological outcomes of cognitive functioning and PWB in older adults who already have dementia.

KEYWORDS:

• Cognition
• Cognitive training
• Dementia
• Executive functions
• Psychological well-being

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Päivikki and Sakari Sohlberg Foundation; the Finnish Brain Foundation; and the Helsinki University Hospital. The funding organizations had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Päivikki and Sakari Sohlberg Foundation (Päivikki ja Sakari Sohlbergin Säätiö); the Finnish Brain Foundation (Suomen Aivosäätiö); and the Helsinki University Hospital (Helsingin yliopistollinen sairaala).