A intervenção em dupla-tarefa protege do declínio associado à idade nas atividades em dupla-tarefa

Abstract

Introduction: Older adult’s functionality is related to the ability to divide attention into daily life multitasking activities. The ability to coordinate attention in motor and cognitive activities performed simultaneously decreases with aging, compromising functional ability, and therefore older adults' participation and healthy aging. Objectives: The main objective of the present study is to evaluate the effects of a multimodal physical exercise intervention protocol, at moderate intensity, simultaneously with cognitive stimulation (dual-task) on the dual task cost in healthy community-dwelling older adults. Methods: 70 older adults, with no cognitive disfunction participated in the study. Participants were grouped into a Dual Task Exercise group (DTEx, n=40) who performed the intervention protocol of 24 sessions, twice a week, for 75 minutes, and a control group (CG, n=30) who received information on health education and did not perform physical exercises. Two-way mixed ANOVA was used for dual-task cost analysis and Bonferroni tests were used as post-hoc for within-group and between-group comparisons. The project was registered in the Brazilian Registry of Clinical Trials (UTN code: U1111-1233 6349) and approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Institute of Health Sciences of the Federal University of Pará (CAAE no. 03427318.3.0000.0018). Results: There was Group x Time interaction (F (1.68) = 7.207 p ≤ 0.009, η2 p = 0.096) observed for the performance of the motor component of the dual task cost. The DTEx group showed maintenance of the gait speed as the motor component of the dual task cost (Assessment = -11.4% ± 3.0; Reassessment = 10.2% ± -2.6, p = 0.665) while the CG showed an increased cost of approximately 49.76% (Assessment: -10.4% ± 3.4; Reassessment: -20.9% ± 3.0 p ≤ 0.002). Significant differences were found on the performance of the motor component of the cost of the dual task between the groups in the post-intervention condition (GC Reassessment: -20.9 ± 3.0. Reassessment DTEx = -10.2% ± -2.6, p ≤ 0.011). No main effects were observed in the assessment of the cost of the cognitive component. Conclusions: The results suggest that moderate-intensity multimodal physical exercise associated with dual-task cognitive stimulation attenuated the decline in the dual-task cost in the older adults. The cost of dual task is an important clinical measure to assess the functional and cognitive ability to perform tasks of daily living in aging.