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The program was not associated with any serious adverse events, or any adverse event at all other than musculoskeletal soreness from exercise activities. It also appeared to be practical and made a lasting impact, which was a gratifying finding, Dr. Kivipelto said. At the end of the study, intervention group participants had decreased their body mass index by about 0.8 kg/m2, which was significantly more than for control group subjects. Most reported that they were still eating fish and exercising at least twice a week and eating vegetables every day.
“FINGER is the first long-term trial to show that a multidomain intervention like this one can maintain and improve cognitive decline,” she said. “It important that we’ve also seen the program is feasible, has no obvious side effects, and that it’s not limited to cognitive domains. It also has a positive impact on function and quality of life.”
Dr. Kivipelto had no financial disclosures. The study was supported by grants from the Academy of Finland’s Responding to Public Health Challenges Research Programme, La Carita Foundation, the Alzheimer’s Association, the Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation, the Juho Vainio Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation, the Finnish Social Insurance Institution, the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture Research, Salama Bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation, the Axa Research Fund, and various University Hospitals in Finland.
*This story was updated on 11/6/2015.