SynthesisNeurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology2025
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.
Synthesis in Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo evaluate the effects of exercise on verbal fluency (VF), spatial working memory (SWM), and executive functions (EF) in older adults with Alzheimer's disease (AD).
methodsA systematic search of PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, SPORTDiscus, and Web of Science was conducted up to June 5, 2025. Sixteen randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving exercise interventions in elderly AD patients were included. Meta-analysis was performed using Stata 17.0 software.
resultsExercise significantly improved VF (SMD = 0.17, 95% CI 0.05-0.29, P = 0.01), SWM (SMD = 0.61, 95% CI 0.21-1.02, P < 0.01), and EF (SMD = 0.53, 95% CI 0.31-0.75, P < 0.01). Subgroup analyses suggested larger cognitive gains in participants aged ≥ 75 years, while those with < 10 years of education showed limited VF improvement. Cycling did not show significant effects on EF, and open-chain programs did not improve SWM. In contrast, other modalities demonstrated consistent cognitive benefits. Interventions lasting up to 12 weeks were effective for VF and cognitive flexibility but showed minimal impact on inhibitory control.
conclusionsExercise-based interventions are associated with small-to-moderate improvements in verbal fluency, spatial working memory, and executive functions in older adults with AD. The magnitude of benefit may vary according to age, education level, exercise modality, and intervention duration. However, these subgroup findings should be interpreted cautiously due to limited and heterogeneous evidence. Further well-designed trials with standardized reporting of intervention characteristics are warranted to clarify dose-response relationships and enhance the clinical applicability of exercise in neurodegenerative care.
Indexed as
Identifiers
41123759What Socratic holds
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 Socratic graph.