Use it more and keep it alive: a Longitudinal Randomized Controlled Trial in people with Mild Cognitive Impairment

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of two years versus one year of cognitive training in people with amnesic and multi-domain MCI. Methods: One hundred and six MCI patients were randomly assigned in two groups, one experimental (n=74) and one control (n=32). Seventy-four attended a systematic one year cognitive training program, while 41 of them attended the same cognitive training program for one more year. The control group (n=32) did not take part in any kind of cognitive or pharmacological therapy. Neuropsychological assessment was performed at baseline, one and two years later. Results: At the end of the first year, the experimental group (n=74) had better performance than controls in verbal (p <= 0.031) and visual (p=0.005) memory, executive function (p <= 0.008), daily activities (p <= 0.025), general cognitive (p=0.020) and functional performance (p=0.003). At the two-year follow-up, the group with two years of training (N=41) had better performance than controls in verbal (p <= 0.005) and visual (p=0.001) memory, executive function (p <= 0.012), daily activities (p <= 0.004), and general cognitive and functional performance (p=0.000). The group with two years of training had better performance than the group with one year of training (n=33) in verbal (p=0.007) and visual (p=0.007) memory, executive function (p <= 0.009), daily activities (p=0.009), and general functional performance (p=0.000). The group with one year of training had better performance than controls, in executive function (p <= 0.013), general cognitive (p=0.016) and general functional performance (p=0.009). Conclusion: Two years of cognitive training are more beneficial to people with MCI than one year of training or no training at all.