Role of physical activity on the maintenance of cognition and activities of daily living in elderly with Alzheimer's disease

Background: The practice of physical activities has proved to be an efficient strategy in the improvement of independency and cognitive functions in the elderly with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Objective: To evaluate the relation between the practice of physical activity, cognition and activities of daily living (ADL) of patients with AD. Method: The cognitive and physical aspects and ADL were evaluated of 37 elders (19 normal controls, 11 sedentary with AD and 7 active with AD). Results: The variable that best predicts the cognitive state (MMSE) is the duration of disease for the AD sedentary group and Lawton's Scale for the AD active group. We observed a correlation between MMSE score and duration of disease in the sedentary group and between MMSE and ADL in the active group. Conclusion: Our study showed that physical and cognitive stimulation in patients with AD can contribute to decrease cognitive and functional decline.