Differences between Weekly Physical Activity among People with Alzheimer’s Disease in Greece

Abstract

Objective: Dementia is one social challenge with global prevalence. Creating personalized programs that enhance physical activity (PA) is an efficient approach for patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and a distinction between sexes to organize such programs is needed. Therefore, the present study focuses on differences in PA between male and female patients with AD and compared the number of performed steps in these patients during week and weekend days. Methods: In total, 21 patients with AD, who attended the daily center for dementia of the Psychogeriatric Association for Alzheimer in Athens and met the established criteria based on information obtained from neuropsychiatric examinations, were included in this study. The Mini-Mental State Examination Test was conducted, and data concerning the daily performed steps were obtained by using a portable pedometer, which the participants wore for 7 days. Results: The cognitive status and physical activity among male and female individuals were found to be similar. The results were similar for both week and weekend days. However, there was a significant correlation between the Mini-Mental State Exam scores and daily steps. Our findings suggest that PA is independently associated with sexes and weekdays in patients with mild to severe dementia. Conclusion: PA is an important factor in everyday life. Our findings suggest that there are no differences between the sexes regarding their physical activity. However, there was a significant link between the cognitive status and PA. Because of the small number of included participants, additional research is required to generalize our findings