title: Exercise improves cognition in Parkinson's disease: The PRET-PD randomized, clinical trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This article reports on the findings of the effect of two structured exercise interventions on secondary cognitive outcomes that were gathered as part of the Progressive Resistance Exercise Training in Parkinson's disease (PD) randomized, controlled trial.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was a prospective, parallel-group, single-center trial. Fifty-one nondemented patients with mild-to-moderate PD were randomly assigned either to modified Fitness Counts (mFC) or to Progressive Resistance Exercise Training (PRET) and were followed for 24 months. Cognitive outcomes were the Digit Span, Stroop, and Brief Test of Attention (BTA).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighteen patients in mFC and 20 patients in PRET completed the trial. At 12 and at 24 months, no differences between groups were observed. At 12 months, relative to baseline, mFC improved on the Digit Span (estimated change: 0.3; interquartile range: 0, 0.7; P = 0.04) and Stroop (0.3; 0, 0.6; P = 0.04), and PRET improved only on the Digit Span (0.7; 0.3, 1; P < 0.01). At 24 months, relative to baseline, mFC improved on the Digit Span (0.7; 0.3, 1.7; P < 0.01) and Stroop (0.3; 0.1, 0.5; P = 0.03), whereas PRET improved on the Digit Span (0.5; 0.2, 0.8; P < 0.01), Stroop (0.2; -0.1, 0.6; P = 0.048), and BTA (0.3; 0, 0.8; P = 0.048). No neurological or cognitive adverse events were observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provides class IV level of evidence that 24 months of PRET or mFC may improve attention and working memory in nondemented patients with mild-to-moderate Parkinson's disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: Fabian J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: David
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: Julie A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Robichaud
authors.affiliation: Departments of Neurological Sciences and Preventive Medicine, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: Sue E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Leurgans
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Poon
authors.affiliation: Division of Geriatric Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado, USA.
authors.forename: Wendy M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Kohrt
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Sciences, Section of Parkinson Disease and Movement Disorders, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Goldman
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Sciences, Section of Parkinson Disease and Movement Disorders, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: Cynthia L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Comella
authors.affiliation: Departments of Applied Physiology and Kinesiology, Biomedical Engineering, and Neurology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA.
authors.forename: David E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Vaillancourt
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA.|Department of Neurological Sciences, Section of Parkinson Disease and Movement Disorders, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Corcos
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Parkison's disease; attention; memory; progressive resistance exercise; randomized controlled trial