Effects of dance on the postural balance, cognition and functional autonomy of older adults

ABSTRACT Objective: to evaluate the postural balance, cognition and functional autonomy of older adults with dementia, who are long-stay inpatients, subjected to ballroom dancing. Method: simple randomized clinical study. Older adult sample: control group (30) and experimental group (30). The groups were subjected to the protocol of functional autonomy for activities of daily living; to the assessment of cognition (mini-mental state examination); and to the analysis of postural balance (stabilometric and postural platforms). The analysis of variance with repeated measures for group and time factors, and Scheffé’s post hoc test were used, with significance of p < 0.05. Results: For the mini-mental state examination, the control group presented a 24.27 mean, and the experimental 22.75. Functional autonomy for activities of daily living – experimental: 54.47 ± 7.24 (p < 0.0001) x control: 61.77 ± 8.47 (p = 0.011). Postural balance – experimental: X = 3.16 ± 3.44 (p = 0.02) x control = X = 6.30 ± 7.62 (p = 0.04). Conclusion: Ballroom dancing can be recommended for older adults to provide improvement in their balance and motor performance of the activities of daily living.摘要 目的：评估长期住院的痴呆老年患者接受交谊舞干预后的姿势平衡、认知功能与日常功能自主性。方法：采用简单随机临床研究设计。研究样本分为对照组（30例）与实验组（30例），两组均接受日常生活活动功能自主性评估方案、认知功能评估（简易精神状态检查（mini-mental state examination））以及姿势平衡分析（静力稳定测量与姿势平台测试）。统计分析采用针对分组与时间因素的重复测量方差分析，辅以Scheffé事后检验，检验水准设定为p<0.05。结果：简易精神状态检查结果显示，对照组平均得分为24.27，实验组为22.75；日常生活活动功能自主性指标：实验组为54.47±7.24（p<0.0001），对照组为61.77±8.47（p=0.011）；姿势平衡指标：实验组为3.16±3.44（p=0.02），对照组为6.30±7.62（p=0.04）。结论：可推荐交谊舞用于老年群体，以改善其姿势平衡能力与日常生活活动的运动表现。