iBAILA - Investigating Brains & Activity to Improve Latino Aging

iBAILA - Investigating Brains & Activity to Improve Latino Aging

Examine the impact of the BAILAMOS (TM) dance program on lifestyle physical activity

Examine the impact of the BAILAMOS (TM) dance program on lifestyle physical activity (PA). Hypothesis 1: Intervention group will demonstrate greater improvement in Lifestyle PA than controls. 2) Test the impact of BAILAMOS (TM) on cognitive function and quality of life. Hypothesis 2: Intervention group will demonstrate greater improvement in cognitive function and quality of life than controls. 3) Test the impact of BAILAMOS (TM) on brain network functional connectivity. Hypothesis 3: Intervention group will demonstrate enhanced Default Mode Network (DMN), Executive Network (EN), and sensorimotor network connectivity vis a vis controls.

Inclusion Criteria:

• age > 60 years;
• Latino/Hispanic;
• ability to speak Spanish;
• participation in <150 minutes/week of aerobic exercise;
• adequate cognitive status as assessed by the Mini Mental State Examination (>14/21);
• danced < 2 times/month over the past 12 months;
• willingness to be randomly assigned to treatment or control group;
• no plans to leave the U.S. > two weeks during the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

• uncontrolled cardiovascular disease or diabetes mellitus;
• pacemaker or metallic implants (infusion pumps, metal prostheses, metallic-backed transdermal patches or metallic shrapnel); - claustrophobia that precludes MRI;
• stroke within the past year;
• healing or unhealed fracture(s);
• hip or knee replacement within the past 6 months;
• heart failure;
• recurrent falls within the past year;
• regular use of a walker or wheelchair;
• weigh more than 300 pounds, as unable to fit into MRI. The EASY (Resnick et al., 2008) will be used to learn if physician consent is needed for program enrollment.