Effect of internet-based vs. in-person multimodal interventions on patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease: a randomized, cross-over, open-label trial

• Main Authors: Young Hee Jung (Author), Sang-Cheol Park (Author), Jee Hee Lee (Author), Myong Jong Kim (Author), Seunghoon Lee (Author), Su Jin Chung (Author), Ji Yeon Moon (Author), Young Hi Choi (Author), Jieun Ju (Author), Hyun Jeong Han (Author), So Young Lee (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A., 2023-07-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 2296-2565; 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1203201
• Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; in-person; internet-based; art therapy; music therapy; multimodal intervention; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270
• Source: Frontiers in Public Health, Vol 11 (2023)

ObjectiveWe aimed to investigate the effect of internet-based and in-person cognitive interventions on cognition, mood, and activities of daily living (ADL) on patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD) and examine whether internet-based intervention is as effective as the in-person intervention.MethodsWe recruited 52 patients with probable mild AD, of whom 42 completed the trial. We randomly divided participants into intervention and control groups at a 1:1 ratio and statistically compared the neuropsychological test results of the two groups. In addition, patients in the intervention group were randomly assigned to a 4 weeks internet-based or in-person intervention, with subsequent crossover to the other group for 4 weeks. We statistically analyzed and compared the neuropsychological test scores between internet-based and in-person interventions.ResultsCompared with the control group, the intervention group (internet-based and in-person) showed significantly improved profile in cognition (p < 0.001), depression (p < 0.001), anxiety (p < 0.001) and ADL (p < 0.001). In addition, the effect of the internet-based intervention on cognition (p = 0.918) and depression (p = 0.282) was not significantly different from that of the in-person intervention. However, in the Beck anxiety inventory (p = 0.009) and Seoul instrumental activity of daily living (p = 0.023), in-person intervention was more effective than internet-based intervention.ConclusionThis study suggests that both types of cognitive intervention (in-person and internet-based) may be viable supplementary treatments along with approved pharmacological therapy. In terms of anxiety and ADL, the effect of the in-person interventions may be more effective than the-internet based interventions.