Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33523004›Full record

Trial reportJournal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD2021

Cognitive Effects of Aerobic Exercise in Alzheimer's Disease: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

Fang Yu, David M Vock, Lin Zhang, Dereck Salisbury, Nathaniel W Nelson, Lisa S Chow, Glenn Smith, Terry R Barclay, Maurice Dysken, Jean F Wyman

Registry-linked trialOpen access · hybridAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05877196 (Precision Medicine in Alzheimer's Disease), which is not on this map. Cited by 89 papers, 18 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
89citing papers in PubMed, 18 pooled it
14.7field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT05877196 narecruitingnot on this mapstarted 2023, after this paper: background citation

Precision Medicine in Alzheimer's Disease: A SMART Trial of Adaptive Exercises and Their Mechanisms of Action Using AT(N) Biomarkers to Optimize Aerobic-Fitness Responses (The FIT-AD SMART Trial)

TypeinterventionalSponsorArizona State UniversityRan2023 to 2028Enrolled216ConditionsMild Cognitive Impairment, Alzheimer Disease, Cognitive Impairment, Cognitive DeclineArmsModerate Intensity Continuous Training (MICT), Chair-based Stretch, High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), Combined Aerobic Resistance Exercise (CARE)
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

89 citing papers in PubMed, 18 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 140 citations in OpenAlex.

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  3. The effect of exercise on the improvement of verbal fluency, spatial working memory, and the three major executive functions in elderly alzheimer's patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2025
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  19. Trial
  20. Recruitment and Screening Methods in Alzheimer's Disease Research: The FIT-AD Trial.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2022
    Trial

29 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.

Fang YuUniversity of Minnesota Division of Biostatistics, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
David M VockUniversity of Minnesota Division of Biostatistics, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Lin ZhangUniversity of Minnesota Division of Biostatistics, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Dereck SalisburyUniversity of Minnesota School of Nursing, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Nathaniel W NelsonUniversity of Saint Thomas, Saint Paul, MN, USA.
Lisa S ChowUniversity of Minnesota School of Medicine, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Glenn SmithUniversity of Florida Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Terry R BarclayHealthPartners Center for Memory and Aging, Saint Paul, MN, USA.
Maurice DyskenUniversity of Minnesota School of Medicine, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Jean F WymanUniversity of Minnesota School of Nursing, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
University of Minnesota · USPhoenix (United States) · USUniversity of Florida · USUniversity of St. Thomas - Minnesota · US

Funding

Women's CancerP30CA077598 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA TWIN CITIES · PI Jeffrey S. Miller · 1998 to 2026
$100.4M
University of Minnesota Clinical and Translational Science Institute (UMN CTSI)UL1TR000114 · NCATS · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · PI BLAZAR, BRUCE R · 2012 to 2015
$35.0M
University of Minnesota Clinical and Translational Science Institute (UMN CTSI)UL1TR002494 · NCATS · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · PI BLAZAR, BRUCE R, WEISDORF, DANIEL J · 2018 to 2022
$34.9M
Aerobic Exercise in Alzheimer's Disease: Cognition and Hippocampal Volume EffectsR01AG043392 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · PI YU, FANG · 2013 to 2018
$3.2M
NCATS NIH HHS UL1 TR000114NCATS NIH HHS UL1 TR002494NCI NIH HHS P30 CA077598NIA NIH HHS R01 AG043392
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAerobic exercise has shown inconsistent cognitive effects in older adults with Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia.

objectiveTo examine the immediate and longitudinal effects of 6-month cycling on cognition in older adults with AD dementia.

methodsThis randomized controlled trial randomized 96 participants (64 to cycling and 32 to stretching for six months) and followed them for another six months. The intervention was supervised, moderate-intensity cycling for 20-50 minutes, 3 times a week for six months. The control was light-intensity stretching. Cognition was assessed at baseline, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months using the AD Assessment Scale-Cognition (ADAS-Cog). Discrete cognitive domains were measured using the AD Uniform Data Set battery.

resultsThe participants were 77.4±6.8 years old with 15.6±2.9 years of education, and 55% were male. The 6-month change in ADAS-Cog was 1.0±4.6 (cycling) and 0.1±4.1 (stretching), which were both significantly less than the natural 3.2±6.3-point increase observed naturally with disease progression. The 12-month change was 2.4±5.2 (cycling) and 2.2±5.7 (control). ADAS-Cog did not differ between groups at 6 (p = 0.386) and 12 months (p = 0.856). There were no differences in the 12-month rate of change in ADAS-Cog (0.192 versus 0.197, p = 0.967), memory (-0.012 versus -0.019, p = 0.373), executive function (-0.020 versus -0.012, p = 0.383), attention (-0.035 versus -0.033, p = 0.908), or language (-0.028 versus -0.026, p = 0.756).

conclusionExercise may reduce decline in global cognition in older adults with mild-to-moderate AD dementia. Aerobic exercise did not show superior cognitive effects to stretching in our pilot trial, possibly due to the lack of power.

Indexed as

ExerciseAgedAged, 80 and overAlzheimer DiseaseBicyclingCognitionDisease ProgressionExecutive FunctionExercise TherapyFemaleHumansLongitudinal StudiesMaleMuscle Stretching ExercisesNeuropsychological TestsPatient ComplianceAlzheimer’s diseasecognitiondementiaexercisephysical activity

Identifiers

PMID33523004
PMCPMC8075384
OpenAlexW3127520585

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.