Aerobic training versus mobile application based cognitive training: impact on cognition, aerobic capacity, and quality of life of older adults – An experimental study

Objective. India is undergoing population ageing, with 7.7% of its population being more than 60 years old. Ageing brings age related degenerative changes which can bring cognitive impairments. Aerobic exercise is an effective intervention. Cognitive rehabilitation through mobile phone application is relatively unexplored. This study is carried out to compare the effect of aerobic exercise and mobile application training on cognition, aerobic capacity and quality of life of older adults. Methods. 32 participants, 60-75 years of age, eligible to perform aerobic activities and having smart phone were enrolled. Those who had associated neurological conditions, or problem with vision and hearing, were excluded. ACE-III, NCPT, 6MWT and QoL-AD were analysed and those with Mild Cognitive Impairments were randomly allocated to two groups. Group one was given moderate intensity aerobic training for 30 minutes, five days/week, for eight weeks. Group two was given cognitive training through mobile application Lumosity. Participants were asked to achieve daily targets and were made to play it for eight weeks. Follow up of all the outcome measures was taken after eight weeks. Results. All four outcomes show significant improvement for within group analysis (p < 0.05). In between group analysis, no significant difference between the groups for cognition (p = 0.42) and quality of life (p = 0.92). Aerobic capacity showed significant difference in between group analysis (p < 0.01). Conclusions. Both aerobic capacity and mobile app training are equally effective for improving cognition and quality of life in older adults with MCI. Aerobic training group showed more improvement compared mobile training application group.