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Effects of High-Speed, Cued Yoga vs Hatha Yoga on Cognition in Parkinson’s Disease Patients.
Location: 14
Mentor: Dr. Joseph Signorile
PURPOSE: This study compared changes in cognitive performance of 20 older PD patients randomly assigned to traditional Hatha yoga (HATHA, n=8) or YogaCue (n=12), a high-speed, cued program targeting exercise intensity, pattern recognition, and retention. METHODS: Patients attended three 1-hour sessions per week for 24 weeks. Assessments (pre-, mid-, post-test) included NIH Cognitive Toolbox, Trail-Making A & B, MoCA, and Hopkins Verbal Learning Tests. RESULTS: While no significant effects were seen for the NIH Flanker test, YogaCue showed improvements from baseline (Mdiff±SE = 6.42±2.89; p=.039) and mid-test (7.67±2.28; p=.003). A significant time effect was seen for Picture Sequence Memory Testing (p=.043) with an increase from pretest to post-test (9.96±2.90; p=.003) driven by YogaCue changes. A group x time interaction was seen for the List Sorting Test (p<.014) with improvements for YogaCue from pretest (25.17±4.15, p<.001) and mid-test (26.8 ± 3.38, p<.001). For Pattern Comparison Processing Speed, a significant group-x-time interaction (p=0.033) with a significant improvement from pre- to post-test for YogaCue (7.58±3.42, p=.040). For the Fluid Composite Score there was a significant group x time interaction (p=0.003) with earlier significant improvement for YogaCue. A significant time effect was shown for the MoCA (p=.044) with a significant improvement for the sample from pretest to post-test (1.25±.38; p=.004). For the Hopkin’s Verbal Learning Test, there were significant group-x-time interaction for Delayed Recall (p=0.036) with an improvement by YogaCue (2.00±0.69; p=0.010). CONCLUSION: In PD patients, cognitive performance can be improved by YogaCue and HATHA. However, YogaCue produced positive changes in a larger number of tests.
