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Impact of the Baltimore Experience Corps Trial on cortical and hippocampal volumes.

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.

SUBMITTER: Carlson MC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5179033 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Impact of the Baltimore Experience Corps Trial on cortical and hippocampal volumes.

Carlson Michelle C MC Kuo Julie H JH Chuang Yi-Fang YF Varma Vijay R VR Harris Greg G Albert Marilyn S MS Erickson Kirk I KI Kramer Arthur F AF Parisi Jeanine M JM Xue Qian-Li QL Tan Eriwn J EJ Tanner Elizabeth K EK Gross Alden L AL Seeman Teresa E TE Gruenewald Tara L TL McGill Sylvia S Rebok George W GW Fried Linda P LP

Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association 20150331 11

<h4>Introduction</h4>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.<h4>Methods</h4>The Brain Health Study simultaneously enrolled, evaluated, and randomized 111 men and women (58 interventions; ...[more]

PMID: 25835516

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Project description:There is compelling evidence supporting the benefits of increased regular physical activity in older adults. The Experience Corps program in Baltimore MD was designed in part as a community based approach to increasing physical activity that would also appeal to older adults who have historically not utilized health promotion programs. The Baltimore Experience Corps program places older volunteers in public elementary schools for 15 h a week in roles designed to improve the academic outcomes of children and, simultaneously, increase the physical, cognitive and social activity of volunteers. This paper reports on the change in physical activity levels among older adults associated with participation in the Baltimore Experience Corps. In a pilot randomized controlled evaluation, older adults were randomly assigned to Experience Corps (EC participants) or a waiting list control group. Ages ranged from 59-86 years, 96% were African American, 94% were women, and 84% had annual incomes less than $15,000. EC participants were required to serve >/=15 h a week. At follow-up after 4-8 months, an analysis of 113 randomized volunteers revealed 53% of the EC participants were more active than the previous year by self-report, as compared to 23% of the controls (p<0.01). When adjusted for age, gender and education, there was a trend toward increased physical activity in the EC participants as calculated by a kilocalorie per week increase of 40%, versus a 16% decrease in the controls (p=0.49). EC participants who reported "low activity" at baseline experienced an average 110% increase in their physical activity at follow-up. Among the controls who were in the "low activity" group at baseline, there was, on average, only a 12% increase in physical activity (p=0.03). Among those who were previously active, there was no significant difference (p=0.30). The pilot results suggest that a high intensity volunteer program that is designed as a health promotion intervention can lead, in the short-term, to significant improvements in the level of physical activity of previously inactive older adult volunteers.

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Impact of the Baltimore Experience Corps Trial on cortical and hippocampal volumes.

Publications

Impact of the Baltimore Experience Corps Trial on cortical and hippocampal volumes.

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