Abstract
Objectives: Physical activity (PA) is beneficial for older adults' cognition. There is limited research investigating perspectives of support persons (SPs) of next-of-kins (NOKs) with cognitive impairment. This exploratory study aimed to investigate perspectives of SPs of older adults with Alzheimer's Dementia (AD) or Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI).Methods: A telephone survey of 213 SPs of NOKs from the Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle Flagship Study of Ageing (AIBL) was undertaken to quantitatively assess SPs' beliefs and knowledge about PA benefits, current PA level of their NOK, and PA program preferences. The contribution of age, gender, diagnosis and mental health symptoms was assessed using multiple logistic regression analyses.Results: Many SPs were aware of PA benefits for memory (64%) and believed it would help their NOK (72%). Older SP age was associated with less awareness of benefits (p = 0.016). SPs caring for male NOKs were more likely to believe that PA would be helpful than those caring for female NOKs (p = 0.049). NOK AD diagnosis (rather than MCI) (p = 0.014), older age (p = 0.005) and female gender (p = 0.043) were associated with lower PA levels. SPs were mixed regarding preference for their NOKs to participate in individual (45%) or group (54%) PA. Many SPs wanted to participate in PA with their NOK (63%).Conclusions: The results highlight that SPs have high levels of awareness of the cognitive benefits of PA, and describe their preferences regarding PA programs. The findings provide new information to inform targeted public health messaging, PA prescribers and providers, and future research directions.
Highlights
The prevalence of dementia continues to increase worldwide [1]
The NOKs in our study were classified at their 18-month AIBL assessment with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s dementia (AD) using NINCDS-ADRDA criteria [29] or Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) using criteria described by Winblad and colleagues [30]
The NOKs had a mean age of 76 years, 54% were female, 75% had a diagnosis of AD and 25% MCI
Summary
The prevalence of dementia continues to increase worldwide [1]. Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is an intermediate state between healthy ageing and early dementia, where individuals have objective cognitive impairment without functional impairment [2]. Having MCI increases an individual’s risk of developing dementia [3]. The absence of effective disease modifying treatments for dementia adds even more importance to addressing modifiable risk factors [4]. Physical activity (PA) interventions have been incorporated into guidelines for dementia prevention and management of MCI, including guidelines from the World Health Organization [7], the American Academy of Neurology [8], and the Australian Physical Activity Guidelines for Older Australians with MCI and Subjective Cognitive Decline [9, 10]. Evidence from metaanalyses suggests that PA interventions are beneficial to cognitive function in individuals with dementia [11], and Alzheimer’s dementia (AD) [12, 13]
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