Effectiveness of motor-cognitive dual-task exercise via telerehabilitation in Alzheimer’s disease: An online pilot randomized controlled study

It is important to investigate the effectiveness of delivering the rehabilitation service using remote communication technologies, for conditions that face-to-face treatment is not possible. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of exercise treatment via home-based telerehabilitation (TR) in Alzheimer's disease (AD).Twenty participants who were diagnosed as having the early-middle stage of AD were randomized into a TR group and control group. The TR group received real-time motor-cognitive dual-task exercise treatment via video conferencing, and the control group received no intervention for 6 weeks. The primary outcomes were Mini-Mental State Examination, Timed Up&Go Test, and the 5 Times Sit&Stand Test, and the secondary outcomes were One-leg Stance Test (OLST), Katz Activities of Daily Living Scale (Katz-ADL), Functional Independence Measure, Geriatric Depression Scale-Short Form, Beck Anxiety Scale, Zarit Caregiver Burden Inventory (ZCBI) and the Warwick Edinburgh Well-being Scale. Outcomes were measured at baseline and post-treatment.There was a significant difference in the mean change between the groups in favor of the TR group in all primary and secondary outcomes (p < .05), except for the ZCBI and OLST(p > .05). There was no significant difference in the comparison of the primary outcome measures between the groups in post-treatment results (p > .05); significant differences in all secondary outcome measures were observed in favor of the TR group (p < .05), except for the OLST, Katz-ADL, and ZCBI (p > .05).TR may provide a significant change in cognition and mobility, improve functional independence, and caregiver's well-being, and reduce anxiety and depressive symptoms in people with AD.