Effect of Baduanjin exercise on executive function in older adults with cognitive frailty: A randomized controlled trial

Objective To investigate the effectiveness of Baduanjin exercise on executive function in community-dwelling older adults with cognitive frailty. Design Randomized controlled trial. Setting Community residential centers. Subjects 120 eligible older adults. Interventions Baduanjin training group received supervised Baduanjin training, 60 min sessions three times per week for 24 weeks. The control group did not receive any exercise intervention. Main measures Primary outcome was executive function, assessed using Clock Drawing Test. Secondary outcomes included the subcomponents of executive function (working memory, inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility), attention and cognitive frailty (global cognitive function, physical frailty) assessed using Verbal Fluency Test, Trail Making Test-A/B, Stroop Test, Montreal Cognitive Assessment and Edmonton Frailty Scale, respectively, at baseline and 24 weeks after intervention. Results After the 24-week intervention, the scores of Clock Drawing Test and Verbal Fluency Test, the Trail Making Test-B time and the Card correct numbers of Stroop Test in Baduanjin training group showed significant improvement compared with control group (all P < 0.05) with small to moderate effect sizes and the significant interaction effect of group by time in the Clock Drawing Test and Trail Making Test-B test ( P = 0.003 and P = 0.043); cognitive frailty variables, including Montreal Cognitive Assessment and Edmonton Frail Scale scores, also showed significant improvement ( P = 0.002 and P = 0.004) with a moderate effect sizes and a significant interaction effect ( P < 0.001, P = 0.013). No adverse events were reported. Conclusion Regular Baduanjin training may be an effective and safe intervention to improve cognitive frailty and executive function in community-dwelling older adults with cognitive frailty. Trial registration Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR2100050857. Data of registration: 8/5/2020, https://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.html?proj = 133037 .