Effect of Eight-Week Online Cognitive Training in Parkinson's Disease: A Randomized Controlled Trial [article]

Tim D. van Balkom, Henk W. Berendse, Ysbrand D. van der Werf, Jos W.R. Twisk, Carel F.W. Peeters, Rob H. Hagen, Tanja Berk, Odile A. van den Heuvel, Chris Vriend
2021 medRxiv   pre-print
Cognitive training (CT) has been proposed as a non-pharmacological treatment option for the frequent cognitive impairments occurring in Parkinson's disease (PD). Objective: Assess the efficacy of CT on cognitive function in PD. Methods: In this double-blind, randomized controlled trial we enrolled 140 PD patients with significant subjective cognitive complaints. In eight weeks, participants underwent 24 sessions of computerized multi-domain CT or an active control condition for 45 minutes each
more » ... n=70 vs. n=70). The primary outcome was the accuracy on a computerized Tower of London task; secondary outcomes included effects on other neuropsychological outcomes and subjective cognitive complaints. Outcomes were assessed before and after training and at six-months follow-up, and were analyzed with multivariate mixed-model analyses. Results: The intention-to-treat population consisted of 136 participants. Multivariate mixed-model analyses showed no group difference on the Tower of London accuracy corrected for baseline performance: B: -0.06, 95% CI: -0.27 to 0.15, p=0.562. Participants in the CT group were on average 0.30 SD (i.e., 1.5 seconds) faster on the Tower of London, difficulty load 4 (secondary outcome): 95% CI: -0.55 to -0.06, p=0.015. CT had similar positive effects on other processing speed-related executive function tasks, although these did not reach statistical significance. At follow-up, no group differences were present. Conclusions: The results show tentative but consistent positive effects of CT on processing speed during executive functioning. Future studies should investigate booster sessions to increase durability, optimize training duration, and study different sub-groups of PD patients along the continuum of cognitive decline towards PD dementia.
doi:10.1101/2021.03.04.21252499 fatcat:oc4na7eymbfwjfctdkpuwrehhe