Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials assessing the impact of Baduanjin exercise on cognition and memory in patients with mild cognitive impairment

Objective:
To determine the effectiveness of Baduanjin exercise in improving cognition and memory in patients with mild cognitive impairment.

Data sources:
Relevant English- and Chinese-language studies published until 15th September 2020 were retrieved from the PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Embase, EBSCOhost, OVID, National Knowledge Infrastructure, WANFANG DATA, VIP Information, and SinoMed databases.

Review methods:
Randomized controlled trials assessing Baduanjin exercise in patients with mild cognitive impairment were included. Two researchers independently identified eligible studies and extracted data. Risk-of-bias assessment was performed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool.

Results:
This study included 16 randomized controlled trials (1054 participants) from China that used Chinese versions of standardized tests. Most studies had no significant bias, and only one study had a high risk of bias in the random allocation category. Compared with conventional therapy alone, Baduanjin plus conventional therapy significantly improved the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and Mini-Mental State Examination scores after 6 months of treatment (P < 0.00001 for both), significantly decreased the tau/Aβ1-42 ratio in the cerebrospinal fluid (P < 0.00001), and significantly improved some dimensional scores on the Wechsler Memory Scale and the auditory verbal learning test scores at 6 months (P < 0.05 for all).

Conclusion:
Compared with conventional therapy, Baduanjin plus conventional therapy significantly improved cognitive and memory function in patients with mild cognitive impairment.

Keywords: Baduanjin; Mild cognitive impairment; meta-analysis; qigong; systematic review.

PMID: 33143442 DOI: 10.1177/0269215520969661