Meditation; Aging; Cognition; Memory; Attention; Executive function
Abstract :
[en] IMPORTANCE: Nonpharmacological interventions are a potential strategy to maintain or promote cognitive functioning in older adults.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of 18 months' meditation training and 18 months' non-native language training on cognition in older adults.
DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This study was a secondary analysis of the Age-Well trial, an 18-month, observer-masked, randomized clinical trial with 3 parallel arms. Eligible participants were community-dwelling adults aged 65 years and older residing in Caen, France. Participants were enrolled from November 24, 2016, to March 5, 2018, and randomly assigned (1:1:1) to meditation training, non-native language (English) training, or no intervention arms. Final follow-up was completed on February 6, 2020. Data were analyzed between December 2021 and November 2022.
INTERVENTIONS: The 18-month meditation and non-native language training interventions were structurally equivalent and included 2-hour weekly group sessions, daily home practice of 20 minutes or longer, and 1 day of more intensive home practice. The no intervention group was instructed not to change their habits and to continue living as usual.
MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Cognition (a prespecified secondary outcome of the Age-Well trial) was assessed preintervention and postintervention via the Preclinical Alzheimer Cognitive Composite 5 (PACC5), and composites assessing episodic memory, executive function, and attention.
RESULTS: Among 137 randomized participants, 2 were excluded for not meeting eligibility criteria, leaving 135 (mean [SD] age, 69.3 [3.8] years; 83 female [61%]) eligible for analysis. One participant among the remaining 135 did not complete the trial. In adjusted mixed effects models, no interaction effects were observed between visit and group for PACC5 (F2,131.39 = 2.58; P = .08), episodic memory (F2,131.60 = 2.34; P = .10), executive function (F2,131.26 = 0.89; P = .41), or attention (F2,131.20 = 0.34; P = .79). Results remained substantively unchanged across sensitivity and exploratory analyses.
CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this secondary analysis of an 18-month randomized trial, meditation and non-native language training did not confer salutary cognitive effects. Although further analyses are needed to explore the effects of these interventions on other relevant outcomes related to aging and well-being, these findings did not support the use of these interventions for enhancing cognition in cognitively healthy older adults.
TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02977819.
Disciplines :
Theoretical & cognitive psychology
Author, co-author :
Demnitz-King, Harriet ✱; Division of Psychiatry, University College London, London, United Kingdom, W1T 7NF
Requier, Florence ✱; Université de Liège - ULiège > Psychologie et Neuroscience Cognitives (PsyNCog) ; ULiège - Université de Liège [BE] > GIGA > GIGA CRC In vivo Imaging - Aging & Memory
Whitfield, Tim; Division of Psychiatry, University College London, London, United Kingdom, W1T 7NF
Schlosser, Marco; Division of Psychiatry, University College London, London, United Kingdom, W1T 7NF ; Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
Gonneaud, Julie; Normandie Univ, UNICAEN, INSERM, U1237, Physiopathology and Imaging of Neurological Disorders (PhIND), Institut Blood and Brain @ Caen-Normandie, Cyceron, France
Ware, Caitlin; Normandie Univ, UNICAEN, INSERM, U1237, Physiopathology and Imaging of Neurological Disorders (PhIND), Institut Blood and Brain @ Caen-Normandie, Cyceron, France ; Centre de recherches psychanalyse, médecine et société (CPRMS), Université de Paris, Paris, France
Barnhofer, Thorsten; School of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom
Coll-Padros, Nina; Alzheimer's Disease and Other Cognitive Disorders Unit, Hospital Clinic, August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS), Barcelona, Spain
Dautricourt, Sophie; Normandie Univ, UNICAEN, INSERM, U1237, Physiopathology and Imaging of Neurological Disorders (PhIND), Institut Blood and Brain @ Caen-Normandie, Cyceron, France ; Neurology Department, University Hospital, Caen, France
Delarue, Marion; Normandie Univ, UNICAEN, INSERM, U1237, Physiopathology and Imaging of Neurological Disorders (PhIND), Institut Blood and Brain @ Caen-Normandie, Cyceron, France
Klimecki, Olga M; Clinical Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
Paly, Léo; Normandie Univ, UNICAEN, INSERM, U1237, Physiopathology and Imaging of Neurological Disorders (PhIND), Institut Blood and Brain @ Caen-Normandie, Cyceron, France
Salmon, Eric ; Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Liège - CHU > > Service de neurologie
Schild, Ann-Katrin; Department of Psychiatry, Medical Faculty, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
Wirth, Miranka; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Dresden, Germany
Frison, Eric; Bordeaux Population Health Center, University of Bordeaux, INSERM, EUCLID/F-CRIN Clinical Trials Platform, CHU Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France ; Service d'information médicale, CHU Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
Lutz, Antoine; Eduwell team, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center INSERM U1028, CNRS UMR5292, Lyon 1 University, Bron, Lyon, France
Chételat, Gaël; Normandie Univ, UNICAEN, INSERM, U1237, Physiopathology and Imaging of Neurological Disorders (PhIND), Institut Blood and Brain @ Caen-Normandie, Cyceron, France
Collette, Fabienne ✱; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de Psychologie ; Université de Liège - ULiège > GIGA > GIGA CRC In vivo Imaging - Aging & Memory
Marchant, Natalie L ✱; Division of Psychiatry, University College London, London, United Kingdom, W1T 7NF
