Retrospective Study
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World J Clin Cases. Aug 16, 2022; 10(23): 8133-8140
Published online Aug 16, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i23.8133
Cognitive training for elderly patients with early Alzheimer’s disease in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau: A pilot study
Xiao-Hong Wang, Ming-Qin Luo
Xiao-Hong Wang, Department of Geriatrics, Qinghai Provincial People's Hospital, Xining 810007, Qinghai Province, China
Ming-Qin Luo, Department of Nursing, Qinghai Provincial People's Hospital, Xining 810007, Qinghai Province, China
Author contributions: Wang XH contributed to design, acquisition of data, analysis of data, interpretation of data, and drafted the manuscript; Luo MQ critically revised the manuscript; and all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Qinghai Provincial People’s Hospital.
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from the patients or their families.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xiao-Hong Wang, BS, Department of Geriatrics, Qinghai Provincial People's Hospital, No. 2 Gonghe Road, Chengdong District, Xining 810007, Qinghai Province, China. 2276979314@qq.com
Received: January 14, 2022
Peer-review started: January 14, 2022
First decision: April 8, 2022
Revised: April 27, 2022
Accepted: July 11, 2022
Article in press: July 11, 2022
Published online: August 16, 2022
Processing time: 198 Days and 19.5 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) influences the social and economic quality of life of older adult patients and their families.

AIM

To explore the efficacy of cognitive training in clinical nursing for patients with early AD residing in the plateau area.

METHODS

This pilot study was conducted in patients with early AD treated in the Geriatric Department of the Qinghai Provincial People’s Hospital between August 2019 and March 2021. The patients were divided into a cognitive training group and a conventional nursing group using the random number table method. Patients in the conventional nursing group received conventional nursing, whereas the patients in the cognitive training group received the new nursing intervention. The mini-mental state examination (MMSE) and activities of daily living (ADL) scales were used to compare the cognitive ability and daily activities, respectively, between the two groups before and after the intervention.

RESULTS

Sixty patients were enrolled in this study, with 30 patients in the cognitive training group and conventional nursing group, respectively. The MMSE and ADL scores were significantly higher in the cognitive training group than in the conventional nursing group after the intervention (MMSE: 25.11 ± 2.02 vs 22.26 ± 1. 23, P = 0.032; ADL: 68.72 ± 4.86 vs 60.16 ± 2.27, P = 0.018).

CONCLUSION

The application of cognitive training in clinical nursing for patients with early AD could improve both their cognitive ability and ADL. This method could be applied in clinical practice to manage cognitive dysfunction in patients with early AD.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; Cognitive dysfunction; Cognitive neuroscience; Neurodegenerative diseases; Nursing

Core Tip: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of cognitive dysfunction in the elderly. Cognitive training in clinical nursing could improve both the cognitive ability and activities of daily living for patients with early AD. This study integrated six original cognitive rehabilitation tools, including episodic memory, executive function, working memory, processing speed, speech ability and reasoning judgment, into a comprehensive training platform in the plateau area, carried out a standardized intervention for pre-clinical AD patients, and verified the effectiveness of the intervention through cognitive behavior, daily living ability and other indicators. This localized cognitive rehabilitation program and multi-dimensional efficacy evaluation method have important innovative significance.