The effect of 12 weeks of Baduanjin exercise on cognitive function, lower limb balance and quality of life of the elderly with mild cognitive impairment: a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI is called the precursor state of Alzheimer disease (AD) Has a great impact on people’s health.While there is accumulating evidence supporting Baduanjin exercise has an effect on MCI, few studies have objectively assessed these specific benefits, particularly related to the Baduanjin exercise and MCI. This study aims to explore the effect of Baduanjin on cognitive function, lower limb balance function, and quality of life of the elderly with mild cognitive impairment. A randomized controlled trial study, with pre and post-testing of two parallel groups (BEG, LWG). Sixty participants with MCI were allocated to three groups: the Baduanjin exercise group (BEG=30); and the Leisure walking group (LWG=30).METHODS: In this randomized controlled trial, 60 participants with MCI were randomly allocated in a 1:1 ratio to 12-week Baduanjin exercise group and 12-week leisure walking group, with 30 cases in each group. MMSE(mini-mental state examination scale), MoCA (Montreal cognitive assessment), BBS (Berg Balance Scale), TUG (Timed Up and Go Test), 10MWT (10-meter walking test), SF-12 (12-Item Short Form Survey) was used to assess the cognitive function, the lower limb balance function and quality of life at second times (before and after the intervention). The paired t-test and an independent t-test (with a 95% confidence interval) was used to compare the outcome variables of the two groups.RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the Baduanjin exercise and the control group at baseline in demographic. Compared to participants in the leisure walking group, participants in the Baduanjin group had a significantly improvement in the Cognitive function (MMSE -3.56 [95% CI, -4.65to-2.48], P<0.05) and MoCA(-1.68 [95% CI,-2.85to-0.52], P<0.05); Baduanjin exercise group shows significantly improvement in the lower limb balance function (BBS -4.73 [95% CI, -5.87to-3.59], P < 0.05); TUG (0.52 [95%CI, 0.42 to 0.61], P < 0.05); 10MWT(-0.24 [95CI, -0.31to-0.16], P < 0.05);Baduanjin exercise group have great effect on quality of life (PCS -1.94 [95% CI, -2.89to-1], P < 0.05) and MCS (-1.8 [95%CI,-2.86 to-0.75], P < 0.05, increased from 59.39±2.41 to 62.65±1.56, P < 0.05;) In addition, after the intervention of Baduanjin, there is a significant positive correlation between Lower Limb Balance (BBS) and the improvement of Cognitive Function (MMSE) Score (r=0.328, P<0.05). A significant positive correlation between Lower Limb Balance (10MWT) and the improvement of Cognitive Function (MMSE) score (r=0.366, P<0.05). Meanwhile, the change of Quality of life (MCS) was positively correlated with Cognitive Function (MoCA)improvement (r=0.593, P<0.01).CONCLUSIONS: Baduanjin exercise appears to be a feasible and acceptable intervention to improve the cognitive function and lower limb balance function and quality of life of the elderly with MCI among older adults. Our findings emphasize the significance of Baduanjin exercise into elder health management.Feasibility of the approach for a large scale RCT was also confirmed.