Impact of the Baltimore Experience Corps Trial on cortical and hippocampal volumes. Issue 11 (30th March 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Carlson, Michelle C.; Kuo, Julie H.; Chuang, Yi‐Fang; Varma, Vijay R.; Harris, Greg; Albert, Marilyn S.; Erickson, Kirk I.; Kramer, Arthur F.; Parisi, Jeanine M.; Xue, Qian‐Li; Tan, Eriwn J.; Tanner, Elizabeth K.; Gross, Alden L.; Seeman, Teresa E.; Gruenewald, Tara L.; McGill, Sylvia; Rebok, George W.; Fried, Linda P.
• Is Part Of: Alzheimer's & dementia. Volume 11:Issue 11(2015)
• Page Start: 1340
• Page End: 1348
• Publication Date: 2015-03-30
• Subjects: Randomized controlled trial -- Brain aging -- Social activity -- Cognitive activity -- Physical activity -- Neuroimaging -- Cortical volume -- Hippocampus -- MRI; Alzheimer's disease -- Periodicals; Alzheimer Disease -- Periodicals; Dementia -- Periodicals; Démence; Maladie d'Alzheimer; Périodique électronique (Descripteur de forme); Ressource Internet (Descripteur de forme); 616.83
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jalz.2014.12.005
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1552-5260

Abstract

Abstract: Introduction: There is a substantial interest in identifying interventions that can protect and buffer older adults from atrophy in the cortex and particularly, the hippocampus, a region important to memory. We report the 2‐year effects of a randomized controlled trial of an intergenerational social health promotion program on older men's and women's brain volumes. Methods: The Brain Health Study simultaneously enrolled, evaluated, and randomized 111 men and women (58 interventions; 53 controls) within the Baltimore Experience Corps Trial to evaluate the intervention impact on biomarkers of brain health at baseline and annual follow‐ups during the 2‐year trial exposure. Results: Intention‐to‐treat analyses on cortical and hippocampal volumes for full and sex‐stratified samples revealed program‐specific increases in volumes that reached significance in men only ( P 's ≤ .04). Although men in the control arm exhibited age‐related declines for 2 years, men in the Experience Corps arm showed a 0.7% to 1.6% increase in brain volumes. Women also exhibited modest intervention‐specific gains of 0.3% to 0.54% by the second year of exposure that contrasted with declines of about 1% among women in the control group. Discussion: These findings showed that purposeful activity embedded within a social health promotion program halted and, in men, reversed declines in brain volume in regions vulnerable to dementia. Clinical Trial Registration: NCT0038 .