Effects of creative expression program on patients with mild cognitive impairment: based on Transcranial Doppler

AbstractBackgroundIn this study, patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) were treated with the creative expression program (CrExp) and assessed for changes in cognitive function, while the correlation between changes in cognitive function and cerebral hemodynamic parameters was explored based on Transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasound.MethodWe studied 35 older adults with MCI aged 60 years or older. A creative expression program (CrExp) intervention was implemented in these 35 older adults with MCI for a total of 24 intervention sessions lasting approximately 0.5‐1 hour each over 24 weeks. All participants underwent a pre‐and post‐intervention MoCA to assess and compare changes in the cognitive function of patients before and after the intervention. And their cerebral hemodynamic parameters were measured by (TCD) ultrasound after the intervention.ResultsAfter the intervention, MCI patients treated with CrExp had significantly higher cognitive function scores than before the intervention (MoCA; t = ‐2.15, P = 0.036). TCD parameter measurements showed that the mean blood flow velocity (MBFV) and the resistance index (RI) values of the vertebral artery (VA), the basilar artery (BA), and the middle cerebral artery (MCA) in MCI patients were significantly lower than the normal mean (P<0.05), while the pulsatility index (PI) values of VA and MCA were significantly higher than the normal mean(P<0.05). MBFV in MCA was positively correlated with changes in cognitive function, whereas RI was negatively correlated with changes in cognitive function(P<0.05).ConclusionsThis study provides evidence that the CrExp intervention is effective in improving cognitive function in patients with MCI, while transcranial Doppler ultrasound can provide an objective basis for the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment and can be tested by TCD ultrasound to determine the correlation between the effect of the cognitive intervention and changes in hemodynamic parameters.KeywordsMild cognitive impairment (MCI); Creative expression program intervention (CrExp); Transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasound.