Reducing African Americans' Alzheimer's Disease Risk Through Exercise-Mild Cognitive Impairment Cohort
Pennington Biomedical Research Center
Summary
The RAATE-MCI proposal is designed to determine the effects of physical activity on risk factors for Alzheimer's Disease in older African American adults. The study will compare a physical activity program to an active control group. RAATE-MCI is a 52-week randomized controlled trial. 144 African American adults aged 60 and older will be recruited.
Description
Regular physical activity has proven to be a safe and effective means to enhance cognitive function in older adults ranging from cognitively healthy to mildly cognitively impaired. A large body of existing data suggests that exercise improves cardiovascular and cerebrovascular functioning and thus has the potential to enhance perivascular clearance of amyloid and reduce chronic brain tissue ischemia, among other beneficial effects. Therefore, our study is focused on physical activity promotion, a potent approach to modifying multiple neurobiological pathways implicated in Alzheimer's Disease.…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 60+ years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria: 1. are African American (self-identify) 2. are 60 and older 3. are physically capable of exercise 4. are willing to accept randomization 5. are willing to attend group sessions 6. plan to live in the study area over the next 13 months and capable of traveling to designated study facility for clinic visits and intervention sessions for the next year 7. are free of conditions (e.g. uncontrolled asthma, severe sickle cell disease, etc.) that would make regular exercise unsafe as deemed by the medical investigator 8. have not engaged in regular physical activity 9. have a Shor…
Interventions
- BehavioralPhysical activity program
Supervised group sessions will be held twice per week for approximately 52 weeks. Each physical activity session will last slightly approximately 80 minutes and will consist of aerobic, strength, flexibility, and balance training. The 80 minutes of activity consists of a 5 minute warm-up, 45 minutes of aerobic training, 15 minutes of strength training, 10 minutes of balance training, and a 5 minute cool-down. The physical activity group will target 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic physical activity and two days of strength training, consistent with the current physical activity recommendations.
- BehavioralSuccessful Aging
The successful aging group will be based on a low-intensity activity program and a healthy aging educational component. Sessions will be approximately 60 minutes in duration and will occur once per week for the first 6 months and then every other week for the remainder 6 months of the study. The physical activities will include stretching, balance training, flexibility, relaxation, and practicing activities of daily living. The successful aging education component will cover topics including avoiding scams, fall prevention, living wills, and dementia awareness.
Location
- Pennington Biomedical ResearchBaton Rouge, Louisiana