Impact of COVID-19 lockdown on physical exercise among participants receiving the Promoting Activity, Independence and Stability in Early Dementia (PrAISED) intervention: a repeated measure study

Di Lorito, Claudio; van der Wardt, Veronika; O'Brien, Rebecca; Gladman, John; Masud, Tahir; Harwood, Rowan H.

Abstract

Background
The potential decrease in daily physical activity associated with the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns may have a negative impact on people living with dementia. Given the limited literature around the effects of home confinement in people living with dementia, this study investigated changes in physical exercise levels of participants in the intervention arm of the Promoting Activity, Independence and Stability in Early Dementia (PrAISED) Randomised Controlled Trial during the first COVID-19 national lockdown. It hypothesised that participants would maintain physical exercise levels.

Methods
A repeated measure (three time points) study involving 30 participants (mean age = 78.0 years, 15 male and 15 female, 22 (73.0%) living with their primary caregiver), from four regions in England receiving the PrAISED intervention. PrAISED is an individually tailored intervention of physical exercises and functional activities. Trained therapists deliver therapy sessions over a period of 52 weeks. Study participants received therapy sessions via phone or video calling during the COVID-19 lockdown. This study investigated self-reported minutes of physical exercise recorded on study calendars for the months of February (i.e., baseline – pre-lockdown), May (i.e., T1 – during lockdown), and August (i.e., T2 - post-lockdown) 2020.

Results
Participants reported a statistically significant increase in activity levels between February and May (Wilcoxon Z = -2.013, p = 0.044) and a statistically significant decrease between May and August (Wilcoxon Z = -2.726, p = 0.004). No significant difference was found in the physical activity levels from pre- to post-lockdown (Wilcoxon Z = 0.485, p = 0.620).

Conclusion
Despite concerns that the restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic might lead to reductions in physical exercise, participants in receipt of the PrAISED intervention increased their amount of physical exercise during lockdown. Our findings support the potential of remote support for people living with dementia to help them maintain physical exercise levels in circumstances where face-to-face service provision is not possible.

Trial registration. The PrAISED trial and process evaluation have received ethical approval number 18/YH/0059 from the Bradford/Leeds Ethics Committee.

The Clinical Trial Identifier for PrAISED is: ISRCTN15320670 (https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN15320670). Registration was made on 04/09/2018.

Citation

Di Lorito, C., van der Wardt, V., O'Brien, R., Gladman, J., Masud, T., & Harwood, R. H. (2022). Impact of COVID-19 lockdown on physical exercise among participants receiving the Promoting Activity, Independence and Stability in Early Dementia (PrAISED) intervention: a repeated measure study. BMC Geriatrics, 22(1), Article 605. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-022-03239-5

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 8, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Jul 21, 2022
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2022
• Deposit Date: Jul 16, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 17, 2024
• Journal: BMC Geriatrics
• Electronic ISSN: 1471-2318
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 22
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 605
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-022-03239-5
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/8497646
• Publisher URL: https://bmcgeriatr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12877-022-03239-5
• Additional Information: Received: 3 December 2021; Accepted: 8 June 2022; First Online: 21 July 2022; : ; : The study was conducted according to the Declaration of Helsinki and The University of Nottingham’s Code of Research Conduct and Research Ethics. The PrAISED RCT has received ethical approval number 18/YH/0059 from the Bradford/Leeds Ethics Committee. At the beginning of their involvement in PrAISED, participants were asked to sign a form consenting to the data collected during the RCT to be used in research outputs.; : Not applicable.; : The authors declare that they have no competing interests.