Remote cognitive-motor dual-task training and cognition in mild cognitive impairment: a randomized controlled trial

The rising prevalence of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) demands effective early interventions to delay progression to dementia. This randomized controlled trial evaluated the effects of remote cognitive-motor dual-task training on cognitive function and brain functional connectivity in older adults with MCI. Linear mixed-effects models (subjects as random effects; group, time, and their interaction as fixed effects) revealed significant Group × Time interactions for MoCA scores, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores, and brain functional connectivity (FC) (all P < 0.001), indicating that intervention effects differed across groups over time. Post-hoc comparisons showed that the Remote Cognitive-Motor Group (RCMG) achieved significant improvements in both MoCA and MMSE scores (both P < 0.001), and these gains significantly exceeded those of the Control Group (CG) (P < 0.001). The Remote Cognitive Group (RCG) showed a significant improvement in MoCA (P < 0.001), whereas no significant improvement was observed in MMSE (P = 0.188). For brain FC, the RCMG showed significantly greater post-intervention enhancement than the CG (P < 0.001). Although the RCG showed a nominally significant interaction effect (P = 0.016), this did not remain significant after correction for multiple comparisons, and no significant difference was observed between RCMG and RCG. Region-of-interest (ROI) analyses revealed that the RCMG exhibited significantly enhanced FC between multiple prefrontal and motor-related regions, including the mPFC, DLPFC, and PMC (P < 0.05).Trial registration Study on rehabilitation training of cognitive-motor dual tasks for aging-related cognitive decline (ChiCTR2200064684) and the registration date was 10/14/2022.