Effects of Amazonian Dance on Motor and Non-motor Symptoms of People With Parkinson's: Study Protocol

"Amazonian Dance for Parkinson": a Protocol Study for a Randomized Clinical Trial on Motor and Non-motor Symptoms of People With Parkinson's.

This randomized controlled trial aims to evaluate the effects of a 12-week Amazonian dance program on cognitive and motor symptoms in people with Parkinson's disease (PD), comparing outcomes between participants in the intervention and those in an alternative control intervention.

Experimental Design: Randomized controlled single-blind trial with four parallel groups. Study sites include the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (South Region, Brazil) and the Federal University of Pará (North Region, Brazil).

Participants: 80 adults aged 50 to 80 years with a clinical diagnosis of idiopathic Parkinson's disease, in stages I-III of the Hoehn & Yahr Scale, under stable pharmacological treatment for at least one year. Participants will be recruited from community health services, Parkinson's associations, and university-affiliated health units in Northern and Southern Brazil.

Interventions:

Amazonian Dance Groups (North and South): Participants will engage in twice-weekly dance sessions for 12 weeks (24 sessions total), including movement practices inspired by Lundum and Carimbó dances, choreographic improvisation, and activities involving memory, storytelling, balance, and mobility.

Control Groups (North and South): Participants will receive a structured non-dance intervention over the same 12-week period. This control activity will consist sessions related to general well-being, physical activity, and quality of life, without dance training.

Outcomes:

Primary Outcome: Cognition (assessed by MoCA, Stroop, and Tab-CAT tools). Secondary Outcomes: Language (TELL), depressive and anxiety symptoms (GDS-15, PAS), quality of life (PDQ-39), functional mobility (TUG), fear of falling (FES-I), and freezing of gait (FOGQ). Experience with Dance, Sociodemographic and clinical data will also be collected.

Data Analysis: Descriptive statistics will report means and standard deviations. Group comparisons over time will be analyzed using Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) with Bonferroni post-hoc tests. Statistical significance is set at p<0.05. Effect sizes will be interpreted using Cohen's d (small = 0.2, medium = 0.5, large = 0.8), with 95% confidence intervals reported. Analyses will include intention-to-treat, considering participants with at least 80% adherence.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Confirmed diagnosis of PD according to the London Brain Bank Criteria;
• Able to understand the verbal instructions for the tests;
• Hoehn and Yahr (H&Y) stages I-III
• ≥ 1 year undergoing medical treatment for PD with regular use of anti-parkinsonian drugs
• Capability to participate will be based on the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale -motor examination

Exclusion Criteria:

• Recent surgeries,
• Deep brain stimulation (DBS);
• Other associated neurological diseases or chronic diseases
• Fitted with a pacemaker;
• Prostheses in the lower limbs;