Adherence to Exercise Interventions in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Exercise intervention is an effective non-pharmacological treatment for patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, reports of adherence to exercise vary widely, and few studies have focused specifically on the topic of exercise adherence among patients with MCI. The aim of the systematic review was to identify patients with MCI in the context of exercise intervention studies: (1) definition, monitoring, and recording of adherence; (2) adherence rates; and (3) adherence-related intervention characteristics.

PubMed, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Embase, Chinese Biomedical Database (CBM), Weipu Database (VIP), China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database (CNKI), and Wanfang Database were searched from their inception to October 2024.

A total of 28 studies were included, of which 26 studies reported adherence rates. Four studies defined exercise adherence as the percentage of attended sessions. The mean adherence rate was 77% [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.72-0.83]. Thirteen studies reported supervision during exercise the average adherence was 83.3%. Eight studies reported incentive during exercise the average adherence was 79.3%. Five studies reported with the duration of exercise for 12 months the average adherence was 63%; five studies reported for 6 months the average adherence was 75.1%; and three studies reported for 3 months the average adherence was 85.3%.

The results showed a lack of consistency in adherence. This meta-analysis provides insights into exercise adherence status and related variables in patients with MCI, which will help future studies target adherence enhancement strategies and provide more effective exercise interventions for patients with MCI.