Introduction
Intermittent hypoxic–hyperoxic training (IHHT) may complement a multimodal training intervention (MTI) for improving cognitive function and exercise tolerance in geriatric patients.
Methods
Thirty-four patients (64–92 years) participated in this randomized controlled trial. Before and after the 5- to 7-week intervention period (MTI 1 IHHT vs. MTI 1 ambient air), cognitive func- tion was assessed by the Dementia-Detection Test (DemTect) and the Sunderland Clock-Drawing Test (CDT), and functional exercise capacity by the total distance of the 6-Minute Walk Test (6MWT).
Results
DemTect and CDT indicated significantly larger improvements after MTI 1 IHHT (116.7% vs. 20.39%, P , .001) and (110.7% vs. 28%, P 5 .031) which was also true for the 6MWT (124.1% vs. 110.8%, P 5 .021).
Discussion
IHHT turned out to be easily applicable to and well tolerated by geriatric patients up to 92 years. IHHT contributed significantly to improvements in cognitive function and functional exercise capacity in geriatric patients performing MTI.
(c) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the Alzheimer’s Association. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/ 4.0/).