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Cited by 197Dementia and Cognitive Impairment ResearchAging and Gerontology ResearchHealth, Education, and Aging

Impact of the Baltimore Experience Corps Trial on cortical and hippocampal volumes

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Carlson, Michelle C., Kuo, Julie H., Chuang, Yi‐Fang, Varma, Vijay R., Harris, Greg, Albert, Marilyn S., Erickson, Kirk I., Kramer, Arthur F. +10 more·2015·Alzheimer's & Dementia
DOI 10.1016/j.jalz.2014.12.005PMC PMC5179033
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Abstract

Introduction: There is a substantial interest in identifying interventions that can protect and buffer older adults from atrophy in the cortex and particularly, the hippocampus, a region important to memory. We report the 2‐year effects of a randomized controlled trial of an intergenerational social health promotion program on older men's and women's brain volumes. Methods: The Brain Health Study simultaneously enrolled, evaluated, and randomized 111 men and women (58 interventions; 53 controls) within the Baltimore Experience Corps Trial to evaluate the intervention impact on biomarkers of brain health at baseline and annual follow‐ups during the 2‐year trial exposure. Results: Intention‐to‐treat analyses on cortical and hippocampal volumes for full and sex‐stratified samples revealed program‐specific increases in volumes that reached significance in men only ( P 's ≤ .04). Although men in the control arm exhibited age‐related declines for 2 years, men in the Experience Corps arm showed a 0.7% to 1.6% increase in brain volumes. Women also exhibited modest intervention‐specific gains of 0.3% to 0.54% by the second year of exposure that contrasted with declines of about 1% among women in the control group. Discussion: These findings showed that purposeful activity embedded within a social health promotion program halted and, in men, reversed declines in brain volume in regions vulnerable to dementia. Clinical Trial Registration: NCT0038 .

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Authors
Carlson, M. C., Kuo, J. H., Chuang, Y., Varma, V. R., Harris, G., Albert, M. S., Erickson, K. I., Kramer, A. F., Parisi, J. M., Xue, Q., Tan, E. J., Tanner, E. K., Gross, A. L., Seeman, T. E., Gruenewald, T. L., McGill, S., Rebok, G. W., & Fried, L. P.
Affiliations
  • Johns Hopkins University (US)
  • University of Pittsburgh (US)
  • University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
  • AmeriCorps (US)
  • University of California, Los Angeles (US)
  • University of Southern California (US)
  • Greater Homewood Community Corporation Baltimore MD USA
  • Columbia University (US)
Corresponding author
Carlson, Michelle C.
ORCID
Venue
Alzheimer's & Dementia
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2015-03-30
Volume
11
Issue
11
Pages
1340-1348
ISSN
  • 1552-5260 (ISSN-L)
  • 1552-5279
DOI
10.1016/j.jalz.2014.12.005
PMC
PMC5179033
OpenAlex
W1994571199
Cited by
197
References
7
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 57 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 1
FWCI
13.99
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor)
Locations
  • Alzheimer s & Dementia (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institute on Aging (P01 AG027735‐03)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
  • Social Sciences › Health › Health, Education, and Aging
MeSH terms
Aged, Aging, Atrophy, Cerebral Cortex, Female, Health Promotion, Hippocampus, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Memory Disorders, Organ Size, Sex Characteristics, Time Factors, Volunteers, Baltimore, Treatment Outcome

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