title: Improved cognitive performance following aerobic exercise training in people with traumatic brain injury.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine cognitive function in individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) prior to and after participation in an aerobic exercise training program.
  
  
  METHODS
  Pre-post intervention study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Medical research center.
  
  
  METHODS
  Volunteer sample of individuals (N=7) (age, 33.3±7.9y) with chronic nonpenetrating TBI (injury severity: 3=mild, 4=moderate; time since most current injury: 4.0±5.5y) who were ambulatory.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twelve weeks of supervised vigorous aerobic exercise training performed 3 times a week for 30 minutes on a treadmill.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cognitive function was assessed using the Trail Making Test Part A (TMT-A), Trail Making Test Part B (TMT-B), and Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). Sleep quality and depression were measured with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Beck Depression Inventory, version 2 (BDI-II). Indices of cardiorespiratory fitness were used to examine the relation between improvements in cognitive function and cardiorespiratory fitness.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After training, improvements in cognitive function were observed with greater scores on the TMT-A (10.3±6.8; P=.007), TMT-B (9.6±7.0; P=.011), and RBANS total scale (13.3±9.3; P=.009). No changes were observed in measures of the PSQI and BDI-II. The magnitude of cognitive improvements was also strongly related to the gains in cardiorespiratory fitness.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that vigorous aerobic exercise training may improve specific aspects of cognitive function in individuals with TBI and cardiorespiratory fitness gains may be a determinant of these improvements.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Science, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA; Rehabilitation Medicine Department, National Institutes of Health, Clinical Center, Bethesda, MD. Electronic address: lchin2@gmu.edu.
authors.forename: Lisa M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Chin
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Science, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA; Rehabilitation Medicine Department, National Institutes of Health, Clinical Center, Bethesda, MD.
authors.forename: Randall Eugene
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Keyser
authors.affiliation: Rehabilitation Medicine Department, National Institutes of Health, Clinical Center, Bethesda, MD; Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine, Bethesda, MD.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dsurney
authors.affiliation: Rehabilitation Medicine Department, National Institutes of Health, Clinical Center, Bethesda, MD; Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine, Bethesda, MD.
authors.forename: Leighton
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003071:Cognition; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010809:Physical Fitness; D012890:Sleep; D015599:Trauma Severity Indices
keywords: Brain injuries; Cognition; Exercise; Neuropsychological tests; Questionnaires; Rehabilitation