Cybercycling Training Among 582 Institutionalized Older Adults: A Real-World Multicohort Retrospective Study

Cybercycling, which combines cognitive training and stationary cycling, is particularly suitable for institutionalized older adults, considering safety and engagement. However, the benefits documented in research settings are often associated with training volumes that are challenging to implement in the real world. We examined whether voluntary real-world training influenced the progression of cumulative cognitive performance as well as within-training cognitive (domain-specific) and motor (cycling distance) performances.

We conducted a retrospective study.

Older adults residing in 77 long-term care facilities.

We analyzed nationwide data of residents who completed 20- to 30-minute sessions over 3 to 12 months. We assessed within-training cognitive performance using the system's built-in scores and within-training motor performance using cycling distance.

The 582 participants included completed a median training period of 6 months, and all trained at least once per month, with 63% training twice per month. Overall, 61% displayed a progression of the cumulative cognitive performance (ie, overall session-to-session upward changes). Receiver operating characteristic analyses suggested that beyond a threshold of cumulative duration of 193 minutes or an overall period of 7 months, there were more participants within the progression than the no-progression group. Despite a modest area under the curve (0.591-0.642), this trend was significant in chi-square tests (χ² = 10.7 and 47.7; P < .01 and P < .001; Cramér's V = 0.10 and 0.20). Furthermore, beyond the indicative thresholds, participants showed higher within-training cognitive performance, particularly regarding visuospatial abilities, executive functions, and memory (P < .01-.001; rank-biserial correlation rᵣ_β = 0.39-0.67), and higher cycling distance (P < .01-.001; rᵣ_β = 0.31-0.62).

This real-world training suggests that even modest participation is associated with increased training performance. Importantly, the potentially beneficial thresholds provide an achievable starting point, encouraging efforts to meet physical activity recommendations.