Author, year | Country | Disease/condition | Studies included (no. and study design) | Sample sizea | Tai Chi intervention | Comparisons | Outcome and measurement |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Farhang et al. (2019) [14] | Chile | Mild cognitive impairment | 4 about Tai Chi (3 RCTs, 1 PNRCT) | 529 | 2–3 × 30–90 min/week for 4–24 weeks | Stretching and relaxation exercise, no intervention, no TC practice, psychoeducation | 1) Cognitive function: CDR, ADAS-cog 2) Executive function: DSF and DSB, TMT 3) Memory: The Logical Memory—delayed recall, HVLT, RBMT, RBMT-II, TEA 4) Visuospatial ability: Block Design Test |
Zhang et al. (2020) [16] | China | Mild cognitive impairment | 7 RCTs | 1068 | 3 × 30–50 min/week for 12–52 weeks | Stretching, daily activity, health education | 1) Global cognitive function: MMSE 2) Memory: Logical Memory Delayed Recall Test 3) Executive function: Digit Span Test (DST) Forward & Backward 4) Verbal fluency: CVFT 5) Visual span: Visual Span Test Forward and Backward or Block Design Test 6) Depressive symptoms: CSDD or GDS |
Lim et al. (2019) [22] | Canada | Early-stage dementia | 9 (6 RCTs, 2 NRCTs, 1 PNCT) | 11–238 | 1–4 × 20–60 min/week for 8–52 weeks | Health talk group, handicraft, adapted physical group activity and education on health, no intervention, stretching and relaxation exercises, education group on cognitive impairment, health and cultural information class | 1) Global cognition: MMSE, ADAS-Cog, CDR 2) Working memory and executive function: DSB, DSC, DSF, 15-Word immediate recall and/or TMT-B 3) Attention and concentration: Stroop Colour and Word, DSB 4) Verbal learning and memory: HVLT-R, 15-Word 30-Min Delayed Recall, RBMT 5) Self-perception of memory: MIC, SMC 6) Semantic memory: CVF 7) Visuospatial ability: Block Design Test |
Wang et al. (2018) [23] | China | Cognitive impairment, mild cognitive impairment or dementia | 7 about Tai Chi (2 RCTs, 2 CCS, 3 CCT) | 808 | 2–3 × 30–90 min/week for 8–48 weeks | Health talk, handicraft, memory intervention program, muscle-stretching and toning exercise, usual lifestyle, usual care | 1) Global cognition: MMSE, ADAS-cog, MoCA 2) Memory: MIC, immediate verbal recall, delayed verbal recall, HVLT, RBMT 3) Executive function: CVF, DSF, forward digit sequence, DSB, backward digit sequence, TMT-A and B |
Wei et al. (2020) [2] | China | Mild cognitive impairment | 12 (4 RCTs, 7 quasi-experimental studies, 1 nonrandomized control group pretest–posttest design) | 981 | 2–5 × 30–60 min/week for 12–52 weeks | Maintain usual daily physical activities, related health education, stretching and toning exercise | 1) Global cognitive ability: MMSE, MoCA, ADAS-Cog, CDR 2) Memory: AVLT-long-term delayed recall 3) Attention: DSB, DSF 4) Executive ability: TMT 5) Language domain of cognition: CVF 6) Visual-spatial cognition: block design test, visual span test 7) IADL: Lawton’s instrumental activities of daily living and functional activities questionnaire (FAQ) 8) Quality of life: SF-12, PD-39 |
Yang et al. (2020) [4] | China | Mild cognitive impairment | 11 RCTs | 1061 | 1–6 × 30–120 min/week for 10–48 weeks | Stretching and toning exercise, escitalopram plus health education, maintain routine daily activities, no intervention, nonathletic activities, educational information related to cognition, memory training | 1) Global cognitive function: MMSE, MoCA, ADAS-Cog, MDRS, CDR-SOB 2) Memory and learning: delayed recall, DSF, DSB, California Verbal Learning Test, Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (immediate and delayed recall), Mattis memory score, logical memory-delayed recall score, and Wechsler Memory Scale 3) Mental speed and attention: visual span (forward), visual span (backward), Stroop Colour and Word Test, Mattis attention score, FAB, Chinese Trail A (seconds), Chinese Trail B (seconds), Trail Making Test A (errors), Stroop Colour and Word Test, Trails A Time (seconds), Trails B Time (seconds), TMT Part A, TMT Part B 4) Ideas, Abstraction, Figural Creations, and Mental Flexibility: CVF, Mattis conceptualization score, Mattis initiation score, category verbal fluency (animals), WAIS, and Trail-Making Test Part B-A score 5) Visuospatial perception: Rey Figure Test (recall), block design score, clock drawing test, bell cancellation test, Mattis construction score, and Rey Figure Test (copying) |
Zheng et al. (2017) [3] | China | Mild cognitive impairment | 3 RCTs | 455 | 2–3 × 30–90 min/week for 20–48 weeks | Usual daily activities; stretching and relaxation exercises, memory intervention program | WAIS, RBMT, SMC, ADAS-cog, BBS, CSDD, CDR, CVF, DAD, DR, NPI, MMSE, VS, DTC, HVLT, RAPA, RBMT, SF-36, TEA, UG |
Zou et al. (2019) [24] | China | Mild cognitive impairment | 6 about Tai Chi (3 RCTs, 3 NRCTs) | 789 | 2–4 × 30–90 min/week for 12–52 weeks | Stretching exercise, memory training, unaltered lifestyle, educational class | 1) Global cognition: MMSE, CDR, MoCA 2) Executive function: TMT-B, DST-FB 3) Short-term memory: Delayed Recall Test, RBMT, RBMT-delayed 4) Cognitive processing speed: DST-F, DSST 5) Visuospatial ability: block design test |