Article

This study, a quasi-experimental, one-group pretest-post-test design, evaluated
the effects on cognitive functioning and cardiorespiratory fitness of 8-week
interventions (aerobic exercise alone and aerobic exercise and cognitive training
combined) in patients with chronic stroke and cognitive impairment living in the
community (participants: n=14, 61.93+/-9.90 years old, 51.50+/-38.22 months after
stroke, n=7 per intervention group). Cognitive functions and cardiorespiratory
fitness were evaluated before and after intervention, and at a 3-month follow-up
visit (episodic memory: revised-Hopkins Verbal Learning Test; working memory:
Brown-Peterson paradigm; attention omission and commission errors: Continuous
Performance Test; cardiorespiratory fitness: peak oxygen uptake during a
symptom-limited, graded exercise test performed on a semirecumbent ergometer).
Friedman's two-way analysis of variance by ranks evaluated differences in score
distributions related to time (for the two groups combined). Post-hoc testing was
adjusted for multiple comparisons. Compared with before the intervention, there
was a significant reduction in attention errors immediately following the
intervention (omission errors: 14.6+/-21.5 vs. 8+/-13.9, P=0.01; commission
errors: 16.4+/-6.3 vs. 10.9+/-7.2, P=0.04), and in part at follow-up (omission
errors on follow-up: 3.4+/-4.3, P=0.03; commission errors on follow-up:
13.2+/-7.6, P=0.42). These results suggest that attention may improve in chronic
stroke survivors with cognitive impairment following short-term training that
includes an aerobic component, without a change in cardiorespiratory fitness.
Randomized-controlled studies are required to confirm these findings.

Langue : ANGLAIS