Abstract
Objective
To investigate the effects of physical exercise on cortical activity measured via
electroencephalogram (EEG) in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).
Data Sources
PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and SciELO databases were searched using: “physical
exercise,” “physical activity,” “physical therapy,” “exercise,” “training,” “electroencephalogram,”
“electroencephalography,” “EEG,” “mild cognitive impairment,” “cognitive dysfunction,”
and “MCI.” The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses
statement was followed and the Physiotherapy Evidence Database scale was used to assess
the risk of bias of each study.
Study Selection
Original articles, sample including individuals with MCI, physical exercise intervention,
use of EEG to measure cortical activity.
Data Extraction
Sample characteristics, physical exercise protocol characteristics, results related
to effects of physical exercise on parameters derived from EEG signals, strengths,
limitations, and conclusions of the studies were selected by 2 investigators.
Data Synthesis
A total of 365 articles were identified in electronic databases. After the selection
stage, 7 studies were included. Although there was a large spectrum of type of exercise
(aerobic, resistance, multimodal, exergames, combined exercise with cognitive training),
all exercise protocols altered cortical activity in patients with MCI. An exercise
session (acute response) causes power reduction of delta band and increases complexity
and P300 amplitude in resting-state EEG. After an intervention with an exercise program
(chronic response), there was a reduction in the power of delta and theta bands and
an increase in beta and alpha bands, as well an increase in complexity in resting-state
EEG.
Conclusions
Physical exercise seems to play a role in cortical activity in patients with MCI,
suggesting neural plasticity in such individuals.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
AD (Alzheimer disease), EEG (electroencephalogram), MCI (mild cognitive impairment), PEDro (Physiotherapy Evidence Database)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 28, 2021
Accepted:
March 23,
2021
Received in revised form:
February 28,
2021
Received:
November 19,
2020
Footnotes
Supported by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) (grant no. 2017/18808-5) and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq PDJ), Brazil (grant no. 153874/2018-0).
Disclosures: none
Identification
Copyright
© 2021 The American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
