Benefits of a 12-Week Non-Drug "Brain Fitness Program" for Patients with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder,...

Non-pharmacologic interventions can potentially improve cognitive function, sleep, and/or mood in patients with attention-deficit/hyperactive disorder (ADHD), post-concussion syndrome (PCS), or memory loss.

We evaluated the benefits of a brain rehabilitation program in an outpatient neurology practice that consists of targeted cognitive training, lifestyle coaching, and electroencephalography (EEG)-based neurofeedback, twice weekly (90 minutes each), for 12 weeks.

223 child and adult patients were included: 71 patients with ADHD, 88 with PCS, and 64 with memory loss (mild cognitive impairment or subjective cognitive decline). Patients underwent a complete neurocognitive evaluation, including tests for Verbal Memory, Complex Attention, Processing Speed, Executive Functioning, and Neurocognition Index. They completed questionnaires about sleep, mood, diet, exercise, anxiety levels, and depression-as well as underwent quantitative EEG-at the beginning and the end of the program.

Pre-post test score comparison demonstrated that all patient subgroups experienced statistically significant improvements on most measures, especially the PCS subgroup, which experienced significant score improvement on all measures tested (p≤0.0011; d≥0.36). After completing the program, 60% to 90% of patients scored higher on cognitive tests and reported having fewer cognitive and emotional symptoms. The largest effect size for pre-post score change was improved executive functioning in all subgroups (ADHD d= 0.86; PCS d= 0.83; memory d= 1.09).

This study demonstrates that a multimodal brain rehabilitation program can have benefits for patients with ADHD, PCS, or memory loss and supports further clinical trials in this field.