TY  - JOUR
A1  - Fleckenstein, Johannes
A1  - Matura, Silke
A1  - Engeroff, Tobias
A1  - Füzéki, Eszter
A1  - Tesky, Valentina
A1  - Pilatus, Ulrich
A1  - Hattingen, Elke
A1  - Deichmann, Ralf
A1  - Vogt, Lutz
A1  - Banzer, Winfried
A1  - Pantel, Johannes
T1  - SMART: physical activity and cerebral metabolism in older people: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial
T2  - Trials
N2  - BACKGROUND: hysical activity exerts a variety of long-term health benefits in older adults. In particular, it is assumed to be a protective factor against cognitive decline and dementia.
METHODS/DESIGN: Randomised controlled assessor blinded 2-armed trial (n = 60) to explore the exercise- induced neuroprotective and metabolic effects on the brain in cognitively healthy older adults. Participants (age ≥ 65), recruited within the setting of assisted living facilities and newspaper advertisements are allocated to a 12-week individualised aerobic exercise programme intervention or a 12-week waiting control group. Total follow-up is 24 weeks. The main outcome is the change in cerebral metabolism as assessed with Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging reflecting changes of cerebral N-acetyl-aspartate and of markers of neuronal energy reserve. Imaging also measures changes in cortical grey matter volume. Secondary outcomes include a broad range of psychometric (cognition) and movement-related parameters such as nutrition, history of physical activity, history of pain and functional diagnostics. Participants are allocated to either the intervention or control group using a computer-generated randomisation sequence. The exercise physiologist in charge of training opens sealed and opaque envelopes and informs participants about group allocation. For organisational reasons, he schedules the participants for upcoming assessments and exercise in groups of five. All assessors and study personal other than exercise physiologists are blinded.
DISCUSSION:  Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging gives a deeper insight into mechanisms of exercise-induced changes in brain metabolism. As follow-up lasts for 6 months, this study is able to explore the mid-term cerebral metabolic effects of physical activity assuming that an individually tailored aerobic ergometer training has the potential to counteract brain ageing.
NCT02343029 (clinicaltrials.gov; 12 January 2015).
KW  - Magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging
KW  - Aerobic exercise training
KW  - Cognitive impairment
KW  - Older adults
KW  - Psychometric tests
KW  - Cognition
KW  - Dementia
KW  - Prevention
Y1  - 2015
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/30630
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-306304
SN  - 1468-6694
N1  - © Fleckenstein et al.; licensee BioMed Central. 2015 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
VL  - 16
IS  - 155
PB  - BioMed Central
CY  - London
ER  -