Hope and burden of Alzheimer disease – a scoping review

Positive Psychology rapidly developed into an influential field of study and intervention, initially situated in Psychology, and later becoming multidisciplinary. Research interest in the study of (psychological) well-being has gained global popularity, with increasing salience in Africa. Although the global trends of these developments are relatively well-known, a bibliometric analysis of positive psychology research in Africa was necessary to shed light on the present hotspots and trends and future trajectories in this region of the world. The data source of the present bibliometric analysis study was Scopus, from which Positive Psychology and well-being research literature from Africa between 1983 and 2023 were searched. Using biblioshiny and VOSviewer, the 622 extracted articles were analysed, from which findings about the current condition, research hotspots, and thematic developmental patterns could be made. Africa experienced an initial slow growth period from 1983 until 2005, after which a rapid growth in research productivity, relevance and impact was experienced. In this regard, the results show that the focal point of scientific productivity is South Africa, with the dominance of South African institutions, particularly the North-West University, from where most positive psychology research is produced and cited. Even with potential access to international journal, African researchers seem to prefer to place their publications in the regional journals such as Journal of Psychology in Africa and South African Journal of Psychology. The research reviewed tends to be characterised by more dominant thematic clusters of positive psychology, psychological well-being, and subjective well-being, with a focus on human individuals. An increasing concern for contextual factors and potential antecedents and dynamics of well-being is also observed. The findings provide a good map from which identification of future research priorities can be deduced. As such, we speculate that future positive psychology research in Africa ought to be concerned with the following: greater distribution and intercountry collaborations across the continent, questions of conceptual clarity of terms, better understanding of contextual factors which influence well-being, and well-being research embracing the complexity of bio-psycho-social-ecological well-being, and science concerned with health-promotion interventions.

Positive psychology is a growing, global research field of psychology that has flourished in the last decade, but its tourism applications are underexplored. Researchers in positive psychology investigate topics such as well-being, happiness, optimism, humour, positive emotions, character strengths and similar topics that broadly relate to quality-of-life research. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a detailed introduction of positive psychology to the tourism reader, to identify and analyse specific research linkages and present key challenges for the future development of positive psychology and tourism research. Three linkages are highlighted: (1) positive psychology research on happiness and its use in conceptualising and measuring fulfilling, happy tourist experiences; (2) positive psychology character strengths and their potential to embellish global tourism education values and (3) positive psychology research on humour and its value in promoting a productive tourism workplace. The incipient linkages therefore relate to a variety of tourism contexts – tourists and their experiences, tourism workers and managers and tourism students and educators. Two key challenges for future development of tourism and positive psychology research are presented: (1) challenges of overcoming insularity (the need to reach out and learn from other fields and disciplines, to further embrace non-Western perspectives and adopt a greater array of research methods) and (2) challenges of connecting with health (the need to integrate subjective benefits of tourism and positive psychology with physical health indicators to better explain optimal human functioning). The chapter ends with a brief synthesis and a call for future research.

Background: Dementia is a global condition affecting over 55 million people. Since there is no treatment, non-pharmacological interventions aim to delay its progression in a safe and cost-effective way. The extant literature suggests that Positive Psychology Interventions (PPIs) can probably be effective for this purpose. The systematic review aims to assess the effectiveness of PPIs as non-pharmacological interventions for mild cognitive decline related to dementia by evaluating their effectiveness in cognitive functions and brain functioning in people with Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD), Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), and mild Alzheimer's disease dementia (AD). Methods: A comprehensive search conducted in the databases Scopus, PubMed, ScienceDirect and PsychINFO (December 2024-March 2025) published between 2015 and 2025 to identify records that met inclusion criteria: studies included patients with SCD, MCI and mild AD dementia, implemented PPIs, Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and pre-post intervention studies with measurable outcomes, assess at least one of the following: cognitive functions and brain functioning. Results: The systematic review included 12 studies (N = 669 participants) that can answer the research question. Only mindfulness interventions were identified. Findings suggest that different types of mindfulness interventions, such as the Mindfulness Awareness Program (MAP) and Mindfulness Training (MT), may be efficient for improving specific cognitive functions (e.g., working memory and attention) and influencing biological pathways related to cognitive decline. However, long-term efficacy has not been demonstrated, and results are mixed and unclear. Conclusions: Μindfulness interventions seem promising for enhancing cognition and brain functioning in older adults with cognitive decline, although the data is limited. However, limitations such as the heterogeneity of the studies and the diversity of the interventions make it necessary for more systematic and organized research to be conducted on the implementation of such interventions. At the same time, it is proposed to examine the effectiveness of other constructs of positive psychology, such as character strengths (CS).

A Clinical Approach to Mild Cognitive Impairment

The study objective is to evaluate the use of qEEG data for the cross-sectional differentiation of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) from mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) and in the longitudinal prediction of cognitive decline in MCI. Eighty-eight subjects with MCI and 42 subjects with mild probable AD were enrolled. Baseline EEGs were recorded using a 32-channel system with electrode positioning according to the international 10-20 system. Digitalized EEG data were further studied by quantitative spectral analysis. Study subjects were followed up for 1 year and reassessed psychometrically. An increase of the total ADAS-cog score of >or= 4 points was regarded as a significant cognitive decline. Using this cut-off, MCI subjects were sub-grouped into stable MCI (s-MCI) and progressing MCI (p-MCI). AD subjects and p-MCI subjects were differentiated from s-MCI subjects by a reduction of alpha power over posterior leads. Reduction of alpha power and mean frequency were significantly correlated with poorer cognitive performance in psychometric tests. Baseline values of alpha power over posterior leads had the highest positive predictive power for MCI and AD (69-80%) and predicted cognitive decline in MCI within a 1-year follow up. qEEG revealed decreased alpha activity in progressing MCI and mild AD prior to an increase of slow wave activity, which typically occurs in advancing AD. This finding may reflect an affection of thalamo-cortical relay activity and cortical connectivity in the early disease course of AD. Reduced alpha activity in MCI subjects at baseline may have prognostic value regarding future cognitive decline.

Event Abstract Back to Event Τhe pattern of relations between cognitive control and Theory of Mind in older adults having vascular risk factors and older adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment: are there any differences? Glykeria Tsentidou1*, Despoina Moraitou1, Elvira Masoura1 and Georgia Papantoniou2 1 Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece 2 University of Ioannina, Greece Aim: The study aims at investigating the relationships among cognitive control (Cc) and Theory of Mind (ToM) in older adults experiencing very mild cognitive decline due to risk factors for vascular disease development (VRF), and older adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Method: The two groups (VRF, MCI) matched for gender, age, and educational level, are measured with tests assessing different dimensions of Cc and ToM. Results: Non-recursive and multi-group path analyses will be applied to the data, to find the relationships between Cc and ToM, for each group, and to reveal possible differences. Conclusion: A different pattern of relationships between ToM and Cc in each group would emerge, as a possible result of the progression of cognitive decline which may lead to a reconfiguration of the relations between these dimensions, due to the efforts of the cognitive system to adapt to the diminishing levels of brain functioning. Recently, several studies have linked non-diagnosed vascular pathology with cognitive impairment. It is reasonable to maintain that since vascular disease affects the brain, it also affects cognitive functioning (Lindeboom, Weinstein, 2004) and leads to some type of "cognitive frailty". Indeed, the theoretical approach of the "vascular hypothesis of cognitive aging" (Anstey, 2008; Spiro, Brady, 2008) posits that basic risk factors for the emergence of vascular disease, such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes mellitus, affect cognitive functions that are supported by the frontal brain regions (Elias, Elias, D'Agostino, et al., 2005; Okusaga, Stewart, Butcher, et al., 2012). A step further in regards to cognitive decline, the term "Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)" was introduced to describe the trajectory of decline in cognition that is identified with dementia (Zheng, Sun, Dong, et al., 2014). Besides the well established memory deficits, many patients with MCI deal with problems in executive functions or cognitive control processes (Cc), namely, the higher-order cognitive processes that control thought and action (Ready, Ott, Grace, & Cahn-Weiner, 2003; Marshall, Rentz, Frey, Locascio, Johnson, Sperling, 2011; Mitchell & Shiri-Feshki M, 2009). In the more recent literature, we come across studies on Theory of Mind (ToM) in MCI. ToM is the most known dimension of social cognition that refers to the ability to understand other people's intentions, beliefs, and desires. What is known till now is that, compared to cognitively healthy older adults, MCI patients seem to perform worse on complex ToM tasks. However, to our knowledge, there is not sufficient evidence regarding the pattern of the relationships between Cc and ToM in community dweller older adults having vascular risk factors (VRF group), and MCI patients. In this light, the present study aims to investigate the differences of older adults having vascular risk factors and MCI patients in regards to the pattern of the relations between cognitive control and Theory of Mind. The following hypothesis has been formulated: the pattern of the relations between Cc and ToM is expected to be more complex in MCI patients, compared to VRF group, given a possible increased recruitment of Cc, in order to complete a task, that MCI patients may follow as a compensatory mechanism against their more advanced level of cognitive decline. The sample consists of two groups of older adults, matched for gender, age and educational level. Each group is composed of 30 participants. All participants are at least 60 years old, with at least six years of schooling and Hellenic as their native language. The first group is composed of community dweller older adults having vascular risk factors (VRF), and the other of older adults diagnosed with MCI. All participants are informed about the procedure and the aim of the study, and their written consent is taken. The neuropsychological assessment is implemented with the administration of a battery of tests measuring Cc as inhibitory control, task switching, updating-monitoring, and planning, and assessing ToM as social mental verb understanding and indirect speech perception. Emotion recognition ability is also assessed, as an underlying construct for the development of ToM. The neuropsychological evaluation takes place over two sessions due to its long duration. The order in which the tests are administered to each participant differs, to avoid serial position effects. Assessment procedure is in progress and soon will be completed. In order to reveal differences in the pattern of relations among the different tasks, structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques will be conducted: using non-recursive path modeling, the direction of the relations between Cc and ToM would be revealed (Kline, 2005). Next, a series of multi-group path analyses will be performed to trace and compare any differentiated patterns of relations among variables (Kline, 2005), for each group. A different pattern of relationships between ToM and Cc in VRF and MCI groups would emerge. Specifically, MCI patients would display a more complex pattern of associations among Cc and ToM dimensions, compared to VRF group, as a possible result of the progression of cognitive decline which may lead to a reconfiguration of the relations between these dimensions, due to the effort of the cognitive system to adapt to the diminishing levels of brain functioning. If there wouldn't be any significant differences in Cc and ToM performance of the two groups, this might lead to the conclusion that the progression of mild cognitive decline in older adults may be reflected in a more complex pattern of associations among cognitive constructs. References Anstey, K. (2008). Cognitive aging and functional biomarkers. In S. Hofer and D. Alwin Eds. Handbook of cognitive aging: interdisciplinary perspectives Thousand Oaks, California: Sage;327 . Elias, P., Elias, MF., D'Agostino, RB., et al. (2005). Serum cholesterol and cognitive performance in the Framingham Heart Study. J Biobehavioral Medical; 67(1): 24-30. Kline, RB. (2005). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling; New York: Guilford Press Lindeboom, J., Weinstein, H. (2004). Neuropsychology of cognitive ageing, minimal cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease, and vascular cognitive impairment. European Journal of Pharmacology; 490: 83–6. Marshall, A., Rentz, M., Frey, T., Locascio, J., Johnson, A., Sperling, A. (2011).Executive function and instrumental activities of daily living in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's & Dementia, 7, 300 - 308. Mitchell, J. & Shiri-Feshki, M. (2009). Rate of progression of mild cognitive impairment to dementia meta-analysis of 41 robust inception cohort studies. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 119 (4), 252–265. Okusaga, Ο., Stewart, ΜCW., Butcher, I., et al. (2012). Smoking, hypercholesterolaemia and hypertension as risk factors for cognitive impairment in older adults. Age Ageing; 42(3): 306-11. Ready, E., Ott, R., Grace, J., & Cahn-Weiner, A. (2003). Apathy and executive dysfunction in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer disease. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 11(2), 222–228. Spiro, A., Brady, C. (2008). Integrating health into cognitive aging research and theory. In S. Hofer and D. Alwin Eds. Handbook of cognitive aging: interdisciplinary perspectives Thousand Oaks, California: Sage: 260-83. Zheng, D., Sun, H., Dong, X., Liu, B., Xu, Y., Chen, S., Song, L., Zhang, H., Wang, X. (2014). Executive dysfunction and gray matter atrophy in amnestic mild cognitive impairment. Neurobiology of Aging, 35, 548 - 555. Keywords: vascular risk factors, Mild Cognitive Impairment, cognitive control, Theory of Mind, neuropsychological assessment Conference: SAN2016 Meeting, Corfu, Greece, 6 Oct - 9 Oct, 2016. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation in SAN2016 Conference Topic: Posters Citation: Tsentidou G, Moraitou D, Masoura E and Papantoniou G (2016). Τhe pattern of relations between cognitive control and Theory of Mind in older adults having vascular risk factors and older adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment: are there any differences?. Conference Abstract: SAN2016 Meeting. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2016.220.00123 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers' terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 29 Jul 2016; Published Online: 01 Aug 2016. * Correspondence: Mrs. Glykeria Tsentidou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece, gltsentidou@gmail.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Glykeria Tsentidou Despoina Moraitou Elvira Masoura Georgia Papantoniou Google Glykeria Tsentidou Despoina Moraitou Elvira Masoura Georgia Papantoniou Google Scholar Glykeria Tsentidou Despoina Moraitou Elvira Masoura Georgia Papantoniou PubMed Glykeria Tsentidou Despoina Moraitou Elvira Masoura Georgia Papantoniou Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

High Activities of BACE1 in Brains with Mild Cognitive Impairment

To investigate financial capacity in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) using a clinician interview approach. Cross-sectional. Tertiary care medical center. Healthy older adults (n=75) and patients with amnestic MCI (n=58), mild AD (n=97), and moderate AD (n=31). The investigators and five study physicians developed a conceptually based, semistructured clinical interview for evaluating seven core financial domains and overall financial capacity (Semi-Structured Clinical Interview for Financial Capacity; SCIFC). For each participant, a physician made capacity judgments (capable, marginally capable, or incapable) for each financial domain and for overall capacity. Study physicians made more than 11,000 capacity judgments across the study sample (N=261). Very good interrater agreement was obtained for the SCIFC judgments. Increasing proportions of marginal and incapable judgment ratings were associated with increasing disease severity across the four study groups. For overall financial capacity, 95% of physician judgments for older controls were rated as capable, compared with 82% for patients with MCI, 26% for patients with mild AD, and 4% for patients with moderate AD. Physicians and other clinicians can reliably evaluate financial capacity in cognitively impaired older adults using a relatively brief, semistructured clinical interview. Patients with MCI have mild impairment in financial capacity, those with mild AD have emerging global impairment, and those with moderate AD have advanced global impairment. Patients with MCI and their families should proactively engage in financial and legal planning, given these patients' risk of developing AD and accelerated loss of financial abilities.

High amyloid has been associated with substantial episodic memory decline over 18 and 36 months in healthy older adults and individuals with mild cognitive impairment. However, the nature and magnitude of amyloid-related memory and non-memory change from the preclinical to the clinical stages of Alzheimer's disease has not been evaluated over the same time interval. Healthy older adults (n = 320), individuals with mild cognitive impairment (n = 57) and individuals with Alzheimer's disease (n = 36) enrolled in the Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle study underwent at least one positron emission tomography neuroimaging scan for amyloid. Cognitive assessments were conducted at baseline, and 18- and 36-month follow-up assessments. Compared with amyloid-negative healthy older adults, amyloid-positive healthy older adults, and amyloid-positive individuals with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease showed moderate and equivalent decline in verbal and visual episodic memory over 36 months (d's = 0.47-0.51). Relative to amyloid-negative healthy older adults, amyloid-positive healthy older adults showed no decline in non-memory functions, but amyloid-positive individuals with mild cognitive impairment showed additional moderate decline in language, attention and visuospatial function (d's = 0.47-1.12), and amyloid-positive individuals with Alzheimer's disease showed large decline in all aspects of memory and non-memory function (d's = 0.73-2.28). Amyloid negative individuals with mild cognitive impairment did not show any cognitive decline over 36 months. When non-demented individuals (i.e. healthy older adults and adults with mild cognitive impairment) were further dichotomized, high amyloid-positive non-demented individuals showed a greater rate of decline in episodic memory and language when compared with low amyloid positive non-demented individuals. Memory decline does not plateau with increasing disease severity, and decline in non-memory functions increases in amyloid-positive individuals with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. The combined detection of amyloid positivity and objectively-defined decline in memory are reliable indicators of early Alzheimer's disease, and the detection of decline in non-memory functions in amyloid-positive individuals with mild cognitive impairment may assist in determining the level of disease severity in these individuals. Further, these results suggest that grouping amyloid data into at least two categories of abnormality may be useful in determining the disease risk level in non-demented individuals.

(Reprinted with permission from American Psychiatric Association, http://psychiatryonline.org/guidelines).

BackgroundBoth formal and informal caregivers play pivotal roles in long-term dementia care, demonstrating a shared dedication to providing comprehensive care and support for individuals with dementia. These two caregiver groups exhibit both similarities and differences in their caregiving experiences, contributing to variations in subjective well-being outcomes. However, limited research has compared the psychological well-being and self-rated health of these two caregiver groups, or explored the influencing factors. This knowledge gap hinders the development of targeted interventions and support strategies tailored to different caregiving contexts and informs supportive policymaking.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted among 440 caregivers of individuals with dementia, including 229 informal caregivers and 211 formal caregivers. Psychological well-being was assessed using the short version of Ryff’s Psychological Well-being Scale, while self-rated health was measured using a summative item from a validated instrument. Caregiving appraisal and coping were evaluated separately using the Chinese version of the Caregiving Appraisal Scale and Ways of Coping Questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, t-tests, Chi-square tests, and multivariate stepwise regression analyses were employed for data analysis.ResultsFormal caregivers exhibited significantly better psychological well-being and self-rated health compared to informal caregivers. Moreover, formal caregivers reported more positive caregiving appraisals than their informal counterparts. However, there was no statistical difference in coping strategies between the two groups. The psychological well-being of informal caregivers was primarily influenced by coping (standardized β = 0.309) and caregiving mastery (standardized β = 0.270). For formal caregivers, their psychological well-being was mainly influenced by caregiving satisfaction (standardized β = 0.267) and caregiving intensity (standardized β = 0.242). Both informal (standardized β = 0.354) and formal caregivers’ (standardized β = 0.156) self-rated health were influenced by passive coping.ConclusionsThis study provides valuable insights for developing tailored interventions and support systems aimed at improving the psychological well-being and self-rated health of informal and formal caregivers of people with dementia. To enhance the psychological well-being of informal caregivers, interventions targeting improvements in coping skills and caregiving mastery can be designed; while for formal caregivers, interventions focusing on enhancing caregiving satisfaction and effective coping strategies may be beneficial. Improving the passive coping and caregiving appraisals may help improve the self-rated health of both groups.

BackgroundUnderstanding the relationship among changes in Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR), patient outcomes, and probability of progression is crucial for evaluating the long-term benefits of disease-modifying treatments. We examined associations among changes in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) stages and outcomes that are important to patients and their care partners including activities of daily living (ADLs), geriatric depression, neuropsychiatric features, cognitive impairment, and the probabilities of being transitioned to a long-term care facility (i.e., institutionalization). We also estimated the total time spent at each stage and annual transition probabilities in AD.MethodsThe study included participants with unimpaired cognition, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to AD, and mild, moderate, and severe AD dementia in the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC) Uniform Data Set (UDS) database. The associations among change in AD stages and change in relevant outcomes were estimated using linear mixed models with random intercepts. The probability of transitioning to long-term care facilities was modeled using generalized estimating equations. The total length of time spent at AD stages and annual transition probabilities were estimated with multistate Markov models.ResultsThe estimated average time spent in each stage was 3.2 years in MCI due to AD and 2.2, 2.0, and 2.8 years for mild, moderate, and severe AD dementia, respectively. The annual probabilities of progressing from MCI to mild, moderate, and severe AD dementia were 20, 4, and 0.7%, respectively. The incremental change to the next stage of participants with unimpaired cognition, MCI, and mild, moderate, and severe AD dementia (to death) was 3.2, 20, 26.6, 31, and 25.3%, respectively. Changes in ADLs, neuropsychiatric features, and cognitive measures were greatest among participants who transitioned from MCI and mild AD dementia to more advanced stages. Participants with MCI and mild and moderate AD dementia had increasing odds of being transitioned to long-term care facilities over time during the follow-up period.ConclusionsThe findings demonstrated that participants with early stages AD (MCI or mild dementia) were associated with the largest changes in clinical scale scores. Early detection, diagnosis, and intervention by disease-modifying therapies are required for delaying AD progression. Additionally, estimates of transition probabilities can inform future studies and health economic modeling.

Effects of Orally Administered Nicotinamide Riboside on Bioenergetic Metabolism, Oxidative Stress and Cognition in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Mild Alzheimer's Disease

Positive psychology, the study of optimal human functioning, is an attempt to respond to the systematic bias inherent in psychology’s historical emphasis on mental illness rather than on mental wellness. Viewed as a subset of positive psychology, hope theory has been studied at least as often as flow and learned optimism. The way in which gifted individuals adjust to the manner in which significant others, as well as how the larger world, view giftedness has an impact on psychosocial development. Using the foundation of research in positive psychology, hope, and flow, then examining their interactions with psychosocial research relating to giftedness, talent, and talent development, a stage process has been proposed above in the Bull’s Eye Model for Affective Development. Neurobiological evidence suggests that the aspects of cognition that are most heavily courted in schools—learning, attention, memory, decision making, and social functioning—are both profoundly affected by and subsumed within the processes of emotion.

BackgroundDementia is associated with cognitive and functional decline that significantly impacts quality of life. There is currently no cure for dementia, thus, it is important to manage dementia in the early stages and delay deterioration. Previous studies have documented a range of health benefits of Tai Chi in people with early-stage dementia, however, none have systematically integrated these effects with their underlying mechanisms. The aims of this study were to (1) identify the neurocognitive, psychological, and physical health benefits of Tai Chi oi people with early-stage dementia, and (2) explore the underlying mechanisms of these effects.MethodsWe searched systematic reviews (SRs) and randomised control trials (RCTs) on Tai Chi for adults aged 50 years and older with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or early-stage dementia in MEDLINE, PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and major Chinese databases. No language or publication restrictions were applied. Risk of bias was assessed.ResultsEight SRs with meta-analyses and 6 additional published RCTs revealed inconsistent findings of Tai Chi on improving global cognitive function, attention and executive function, memory and language, and perceptual-motor function. There was no significant between-group difference in depressive symptoms. The results from the RCTs showed that Tai Chi can reduce arthritis pain and slow the progress of dementia. No studies on MCI or early-stage dementia investigating the underlying mechanisms of Tai Chi were identified. Instead, nine mechanistic studies on healthy adults were included. These suggested that Tai Chi may improve memory and cognition via increased regional brain activity, large-scale network functional connectivity, and regional grey matter volume.ConclusionThe effects of Tai Chi on neurocognitive outcomes in people with MCI and early-stage dementia are still inconclusive. Further high-quality clinical trials and mechanistic studies are needed to understand if and how Tai Chi may be applied as a successful intervention to delay deterioration and improve the quality of life in people with an increased risk of cognitive decline.