Effects Of High-speed, Cued Yoga Vs Hatha Yoga On Cognition In Parkinson’s Disease Patients.

Declines in attention, memory, and executive function often seen in Parkinson’s disease patients can be ameliorated by increasing physical activity. Although yoga is an effective intervention, it normally fails to provide sufficient cardiovascular, neuromuscular, or cognitive overloads to maximize improvements. PURPOSE: This study compared changes in cognitive performance of 20 older PD patients (H&Y 1-3) randomly assigned to traditional Hatha yoga (HATHA, n = 8) or YogaCue (n = 12), a high-speed, cued program targeting exercise intensity, pattern recognition, and retention. METHODS: Patients (12 YogaCue, 8 HATHA) attended three 1-hour sessions per week for 24 weeks. Assessments (pre-, mid-, and post-test) included NIH Cognitive Toolbox, Trail Making A & B, MoCA, and Hopkins Verbal Learning Tests. RESULTS: While no significant main effects or interactions were seen for the NIH Flanker test, YogaCue showed improvements from baseline (Mdiff ± SE = 6.42 ± 2.89; p = .039) and mid-test (7.67 ± 2.28; p = .003). There was a significant time effect for the Picture Sequence Memory Test (p = .043, ηp2 = .160) with an increase from pretest to post-test (9.96 ± 2.90; p = .003) driven by changes in YogaCue. A group x time interaction was seen for the List Sorting Test (p < .014, ηp2 = 0.213) with improvements for YogaCue from pretest (25.17 ± 415, p < .001) and mid-test (25.17 ± 4.15, p < .001) to post-test. For Pattern Comparison Processing Speed, there was a significant group x time interaction (p = 0.033, ηp2 = .173) with a significant improvement from pre- to post-test for YogaCue alone (7.58 ± 3.42, p = .040). For the Fluid Composite Score there was a significant group x time interaction (p = 0.003, ηp2 = 0.270) with earlier significant improvement for YogaCue versus HATHA. For the Trailmaking Tests, no significant changes were seen across time. There was a significant time effect for the MoCA (p = .044, ηp2 = .160) with a significant improvement for the sample from pretest to post-test (1.25 ± .38; p = .004). For the Hopkin’s Verbal Learning Test, there were significant group x time interaction for Delayed Recall (p = 0.036, ηp2 = 0.168) with an improvement by YogaCue (2.00 ± 0.69; p = 0.010). CONCLUSIONS: In PD patients, cognitive performance can be improved by YogaCue and HATHA. However, YogaCue produced positive changes in a larger number of tests. Supported by: This study was supported by UM Aging Team Science Award