Aerobic Exercise to Improve Executive Language Function In Older Adults

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The purpose of this study is to see if exercise can improve brain function in older adults

Detailed Description
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Recently, considerable attention has been devoted to examining the beneficial relationship between cognition and aerobic exercise in older adults. Specifically, the effects are thought to involve higher order cognitive processes, such as working memory, switching between tasks, and inhibiting irrelevant information, all of which are thought to be sub- served, in part, by the frontal lobes (Colcombe et al., 2006). Importantly, these areas also are most susceptible to age-related decline (Raz, 2000) and are essential resources for language production (Kemper & Sumner, 2001; Murray & Lenz, 2001). However, despite promising cognitive improvement, changes in frontally-mediated executive language functions have been widely ignored. This is unfortunate considering impaired word retrieval compromises communicative effectiveness, leading to frustration, depression, and withdrawal. Perhaps more importantly, communication ineffectiveness, particularly in the elderly, leads to difficulties interacting with health care professionals leading to further health care burdens. Since cognition, and specifically word retrieval difficulties, usually remain untreated, it is important to find treatment strategies for minimizing these deficits. Therefore, the short-term goal and the purpose of this proposal is to examine the potential of aerobic exercise to improve executive language function in older adults.

Official Title
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Aerobic Exercise to Improve Executive Language Function in Older Adults

Conditions
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Aging

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Aerobic group


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Consent of participants' primary health care physicians to participate in the aerobic exercise. Patients must not have participated in any consistent exercise program or experimental study for at least 3 months prior to enrollment. They must be capable of providing informed consent and complying with the trial procedures. Exclusion Criteria: Demented as defined by the Modified Mini Mental Status Exam. Unalterable travel schedules. Site accessibility constraints.

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 65 Years
Maximum Age: 89 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Treatment
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Aerobic Group<br>12 weeks of aerobic exercise 3 times a week | Behavioral: Aerobic group<br>* 12 weeks of aerobic exercise 3 times a week<br>|
| No Intervention: Control Group<br>No contact control | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Executive Language Functions | The Verbal Fluency Test is demonstrated to be reliable and valid among adults aged 50 to 89 (Delis, et al., 2001; Delis, Kramer, Kaplan, & Hodnack, 2004). The Verbal Fluency Test has three conditions, Letter Verbal Fluency, Category Verbal Fluency, and Switching Verbal Fluency. Each was randomized at pre- and post-12 week timeline and equated for difficulty. Letter Verbal Fluency assesses the number of words beginning with certain letters that participants can generate within 60 seconds,the Category Verbal Fluency assesses the number of words within particular categories participants can generate within 60 seconds, and the Switching Verbal Fluency assesses the number of words while alternating between different categories participants can generate within 60 seconds. For each condition (letter, category, and switching) a total score representing the total number of correct | number of correct words at pre and post separated by 12 weeks |