Tai Chi Chuan as Rehabilitation Program for Mild Cognitive Impairment in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients

Efficacy of Tai Chi Chuan on Cognitive Function in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients Accompanied With Mild Cognitive Impairment

The patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is expected to rise to 439 million in 2030, accounting for 7.7% the population in the world. There are nearly 10 million T2DM patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) among people over 65 years old , accounting for about 8% of the people over 65 years old in China. The medical cost for patients with T2DM/MCI is 2.5 to 4 times higher than those without T2DM. And T2DM will increase the risk of cognitive impairment, and lead to various complications which will bring serious social and medical economic burden.

It is critically important to identify effective treatments to enhance functional status of T2DM/MCI patients. Exercise has been shown to be beneficial for T2DM/MCI patients. As a Chinese traditional mind-body exercise that consists of both physical and mediation components, Tai Chi Chuan has been proved to be helpful in global cognition, memory, executive function and attention of MCI, and blood sugar of T2DM. However, the evidence of the effect of Tai Chi Chuan on T2DM/MCI patients is limited. The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of Tai Chi Chuan treating T2DM/MCI patients in cognitive function, balance, motor and sensation function, blood sugar, biochemistry profile and quality of life.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. clinician diagnosis of T2DM;
2. presence of mild cognitive impairment, not demented;
3. age ≥ 60 years old;
4. did not engage in regular exercise in the last three months (at least 3 times a week, at least 20 minutes of regular exercise each time);
5. informed consent and voluntary participation.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. cognitive impairment caused by other reasons, taking drugs, poisoning, etc;
2. presence of medical conditions that unable or unsafe to exercise, such as depression symptoms, uncontrolled hypertension/ blood pressure/ blood glucose, nervous system diseases(stroke, Parkinson's disease, etc), musculoskeletal system diseases(arthritis, history of hip and/or knee joint replacement, etc), etc;
3. participating in other experiments that influence this study.