A study of effect of physical activities and cognitive games on cognitive function of Chinese older adults

Abstract

Elderly with cognitive decline is a common problem in an aging world. Either physical activities or cognitive games are found to be effective in improving cognitive function in the elderly. However, their combined effect has been rarely studied and in Chinese elderly populations. Healthy elderly, of age 50 or above, both genders were recruited from communities and nursing homes in mainland of China. They were invited to report on their participation level in physical activities and cognitive games by means of Chinese Version of the Physical Activities Scale of the Elderly (PASE-C) and a self-designed Cognitive Activity Scale for the Elderly (CASE) respectively. Mean scores in PASE-C and CASE were used to operationally classify participants into four groups: – physical and cognitive inactive group (PCIG); – physical active group (PG); – cognitive active group (CG); – physical and cognitive active group (PCG). Their cognitive functions, as indicated by Beijing version of Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA-BJ) were examined. The relationships of participation physical activities and cognitive games levels and scores of (Chinese version) (GDS-15) and (MoCA-BJ) were also analyzed. In total, 172 elderly people were interviewed and 167 of them were eligible for further analysis. Participants of the four groups did not differ significantly in demographics except age (F = 11.137, P = 0.000) and monthly income (F = 2.871, P = 0.038). The physical and cognitive active group (PCG) had a better cognitive function than the physical and cognitive inactive group (PCIG) ( P < 0.05) through ANCOVA analysis (using age and income as covariates), but no statistically significant difference could be found in other comparisons. It was suggested that elderly who actively participated in both physical activities and cognitive games might have better cognitive function than those mainly participate in either physical activities or cognitive games alone. Causal relationship cannot be assumed in the present cross-sectional study.