The effects of 12-week mobile phone based cognitive intervention on brain function in patients with mild cognitive impairment.

Abstract

Cognitive intervention (CI) has been known to improve cognition and to delay cognitive decline in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The purpose of this study was whether our newly developed, mobile-phone based CI with a chat bot for 12 weeks changed brain function and cognitive performance in patients with MCI. A single-blind randomized controlled trial was conducted in 60 older adults with patients with amnestic MCI. Participants were randomized into the two groups: the mobile phone based CI with chat bot (CI) (n=30) group and waitlist control group without CI (Control) (n=30) groups. A total of 13 mobile-phone based CI programs were developed targeting for attention, memory, visuospatial, calculation, language and frontal executive functions. The CI comprised 60-min-session per day for 12 weeks. The primary outcome was the changes in brain function measured by resting state electroencephalogram (EEG), which was measured in eyes open and eyes closed conditions for 3 minutes each, with a 19-channel wireless EEG device. The secondary outcome was the changes of cognitive function measured using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery. There were no baseline demographic and clinical differences between the CI and the control groups. EEG analysis after 12-week showed increased beta wave on the frontal areas in the CI group, while decreased beta wave on the frontal areas in the control group. In addition, CI group also demonstrated improvement in attention domain compared to the control group. Considering that increased beta wave is associated with attention performance, our results suggest that the 12 week mobile-phone based CI with chat bot could help improve brain function in patient with MCI.