Tai Chi exercise versus rehabilitation for the elderly with cerebral vascular disorder: a single-blinded randomized controlled trial.
BACKGROUND
Cerebral vascular disorder (CVD) might result in a quantifiable decrease in quality of life, which is determined not only by the neurological deficits but also by impairment of cognitive functions. There are few studies that report on the cognitive effect of Tai Chi exercise (Tai Chi) on the elderly with CVD. The purpose of the present study was to examine the cognitive effect of Tai Chi on the elderly with CVD using P300 measurement, in addition to the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI).


METHODS
A total of 34 patients with CVD were recruited from outpatient Akistu-Kounoike Hospital and randomly assigned to receive Tai Chi (n= 17) or rehabilitation (n= 17) in group sessions once a week for 12 weeks. To examine the time courses of each score (P300 amplitude, P300 latency, GHQ score and PSQI score), repeated-measures analysis of variance was carried out with groups and time as factors.


RESULTS
For the time courses of P300 amplitudes and latencies, there were no significant effects of interaction between group and time. However, significant time-by-group interactions were found for Sleep Quality (P= 0.006), GHQ total score (P= 0.005), anxiety/insomnia score (P= 0.034), and severe depression score (P= 0.020).


CONCLUSIONS
Tai Chi might therefore be considered a useful non-pharmacological approach, along with rehabilitation, for the maintenance of cognitive function in the elderly with CVD and might be a more useful non-pharmacological approach for the improvement of sleep quality and depressive symptoms in the elderly with CVD than rehabilitation.
Wang
Wenchao
W
Department of Psychiatry, Nara Medical University School of Medicine, Nara Akitsu-Kounoike Hospital, Akitsu-Kounoike, Japan.
Sawada
Masayuki
M
Noriyama
Yoshinobu
Y
Arita
Keisuke
K
Ota
Toyosaku
T
Sadamatsu
Miyuki
M
Kiyotou
Reiko
R
Hirai
Motoharu
M
Kishimoto
Toshifumi
T
D000368:Aged; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D015140:Dementia, Vascular / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D018913:Event-Related Potentials, P300 / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D055070:Resistance Training; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D026302:Tai Ji; D016138:Walking