Evaluating results of a 6 month intervention program in a dementia day care center

The Day Care Center of the Athens Association of Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders provides a wide range of activities to people with dementia and their families. The intervention program for patients includes cognitive training, language stimulation, physical exercise and occupational therapy. A first pilot study conducted in our Center in a small sample showed maintenance of the patients’ cognitive abilities. The present study evaluates results of cognitive and physical intervention in a larger sample of people with dementia. 75 subjects (26,2% male and 73,8% female) with mean age 72,63 (±8,49) participated in the program delivered twice a week for 6 months. Participants were divided in 4 groups according to their cognitive and functional level. For the neuropsychological evaluation the following tests were used: MMSE, MOCA, CDT, Verbal & Category Fluency, BNT-15, FAB, Stroop, Simplified Rey Figure, GDS-15, IADL. Subjects were reevaluated tests at the end of the 6-month intervention program. For group A (MCI and early dementia) significant improvement was recorded for MOCA, BNT, Verbal Fluency and Simplified Rey Figure (p<0,05). Subjects in other groups, B, C and D (moderate and severe dementia) showed no statistically significant changes in neuropsychological testing. Results suggest that MCI patients and patients at the early stages of dementia benefited more from the intervention program. Although there was no statistically significant improvement in the rest of the groups, patients in the moderate and severe stages of dementia remained stable over a six month period.