Neurophysiological RCT of Qigong in Elderly With Depression

Summary

Summary of Project:

Elderly depression is a common mood disorder and the individuals will have persistent low mood and self-absorption that adversely affect their quality of life. Cognitive deficits including attention and executive function are commonly seen in elderly with depression. Qigong, a mind-body practice, is found to have an anti-depressive effect and improve cognitive functions. Yet, the underlying mechanism is still elusive. Hence, the present study aims to conduct a randomized controlled trial to investigate how the practice of Eight-Section Brocades, a type of qigong, affects the function of the central nervous system in elderly with depression, as measured by fNIRS. A total of 60 elderly (based on power analysis 80% (β= 0.20) chance (α = 0.05, two-tailed)), aged 65 or above, with depressive mood as indicated by the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) will be recruited and randomly assigned to the treatment (eight-section brocades) and control (exercise) groups. We anticipate that this ancient Chinese mind-body based practice will result in (1) decreased depressive moods and improved cognitive functions, and (2) acute changes in the functional brain activation patterns in the PFC in elderly with depression. The results of this study will shed light on the neurophysiological underpinnings of the therapeutic effects associated with qigong, which will be invaluable for designing intervention for elderly with depression.

Conditions

• Depression

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Qigong

Eight-Section Brocades Practice: The treatment group will undergo an 8-week Eight-Section Brocades intervention program consists of a total of 16 group training sessions with two 1-hour sessions per week. The treatment group participants will be provided with health qigong exercise in a group format led by qualified qigong instructors. All the health qigong instructors will be trained by a certified Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioner with an expertise in health qigong and they are required to pass the certification examination before delivering health qigong intervention at the clinical settings. The Eight-Section Brocades protocol will be used in this study because it is easy to learn by the participants and the clinical effects on psychosocial health were evidenced in previous RCTs. A complete cycle of the Eight-Section Brocades took 12 minutes for completion, which consists of eight sequential and simple forms of movements.

BEHAVIORAL

Exercise

Exercise Program: Participants in the control group will attend a physical exercise program for 8 weeks (1-hour sessions, 2 times a week). The exercise program will incorporate aerobic fitness, strength training, body weight workouts, balance training, flexibility and stretching into the training plan. The exercise program is provided in a group format, which will be led by qualified physical trainer.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Hector Tsang, PhD · The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

65 Years

Max Age

80 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-08-09

Primary Completion

2026-03-31

Completion

2026-03-31

Countries

• Hong Kong

Study Locations