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Published on: August 22, 2014
Vigorous, regular physical exercise may slow disease progression in Alzheimer's disease
Davangere P Devanand1,2, Arjun V Masurkar3, Thomas Wisniewski3,4
1Area Brain Aging and Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York, USA.
Introduction:
Mild to moderate exercise may decrease Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk, but the effects of vigorous, regular physical exercise remain unclear.
Methods:
Two patients with initial diagnoses of amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) demonstrated positive AD biomarkers throughout 16 and 8 years of follow-up, with final diagnoses of mild AD and amnestic MCI, respectively.
Results:
Patient 1 was diagnosed with amnestic MCI at age 64. Neuropsychological testing, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET), amyloid imaging PET, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers during follow-ups remained consistent with AD. By age 80, progression was minimal with Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) 26 of 30. Patient 2 was diagnosed with amnestic MCI at age 72. Neuropsychological testing, MRI, FDG-PET, and amyloid imaging PET during follow-ups remained consistent with AD. At age 80, MoCA was 27 of 30 with no clinical progression. Both patients regularly performed vigorous, regular exercise that increased after retirement/work reduction.
Discussion:
Vigorous, regular exercise may slow disease progression in biomarker-positive amnestic MCI and mild AD.
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