Abstract
The elderly population in Korea is rapidly increasing. It is necessary to develop multi-faceted and complex interventions for prevention and delay of dementia, balance improvement, and physical activity, among the elderly living in the community. This study aimed to examine the effects of the cognitive/exercise dual-task program on cognitive function, health status, depression, and life satisfaction of the elderly living in the community. A quasi-experimental study design using a pretest-posttest control group was employed. The study included a total of 65 elderly participants (intervention: n = 32, control: n = 33) in Seoul, South Korea. The cognitive/exercise dual-task program as an intervention was composed of 20 sessions for a total of 10 weeks, held twice a week for about 50 min each session. Measures were general characteristics of study participants, the Korean version of Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE-K), Korean elderly health status assessment tool, Korean version of Geriatric Depression Scale, and the elderly life satisfaction scale. Data were collected from October 2020 to March 2021. There were statistically significant differences on cognitive function, health status, depression, and life satisfaction between two groups. The cognitive/exercise dual-task program was an effective intervention for improving cognitive function, health status, and life satisfaction, and for decreasing depression of the elderly living in the community. Health care providers need to pay attention to cognitive/exercise dual-task programs for elderly living in the community.
Highlights
Korea is expected to enter an ultra-aged society, as the ratio of the elderly population aged 65 years or older was 15.7% in 2020 and is estimated to be 20.3% by 2025 [1]
The objectives of assessment on cognitive function, health status, depression, and life satisfaction of the this study were to verify the effectiveness of the cognitive/exercise dual-task program on elderly living in the community was performed (Figure 1)
The cognitive/exercise dual-task program statistically significantly improved cognitive function (t = 7.349, p < 0.001), health status (t = 16.405, p < 0.001), and life satisfaction (t = 5.411, p < 0.001) of the elderly living in the community, while significantly decreasing depression (t = −4.400, p < 0.001) (Table 4)
Summary
Korea is expected to enter an ultra-aged society, as the ratio of the elderly population aged 65 years or older was 15.7% in 2020 and is estimated to be 20.3% by 2025 [1]. The number of patients with dementia rapidly increased, along with the elderly population. The cost of managing dementia was KRW 16,331.6 billion in 2019, an increase of KRW. Their subjective or objective memory is significantly reduced, and they experience difficulties in daily life activities and social life [4,5]. Similar to Alzheimer’s disease, it was reported that decreased cognitive function, and problems of parietal and temporal lobe areas of the brain are shown in simple perceptual tasks, thereby resulting in decreased spatio-temporal compositional ability and motor perception problems [5,6]. It was found that with decreased cognitive function, muscle mass and muscle strength decreased [4]. Muscle mass is the main factor influencing muscle strength, and loss of muscle mass due to aging leads to muscle weakness [7].
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