Is it possible to prevent the progression of mild cognitive impairment through non-pharmacological treatments?

Introduction

Mild cognitive impairment produces slight cognitive and motor disturbances without affecting daily life during aging, however, if this symptomatology is not controlled, the speed of deterioration can increase, and even some cases of dementia can appear in the elderly population.

Objective

To describe non-pharmacological therapies that seek to prevent, control and reduce the symptoms of mild cognitive impairment.

Methods

An initial search was carried out in the databases of PubMed, Lilacs, EBSCO, ScienceDirect, Taylor & Francis and ProQuest. The results found were filtered through the PRISMA system and biases evaluated using the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions.

Results

Four categories of non-pharmacological therapies were created, using 50 articles found in the search, which contribute to controlling and improving cognitive and motor areas, in order to reduce the symptoms presented by mild cognitive impairment. The treatments have different methods, instruments and objectives, so that no meta-analysis of the studies could be performed. In addition, limitations related to the sample, the effectiveness of the results and the methodological quality were found.

Conclusions

It was found that non-pharmacological therapies prevent, improve and control the symptoms caused by mild cognitive impairment, however, it is necessary to carry out more studies with better methodologies to corroborate these results.