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Background: Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) are common in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and are associated with admission to institutional care. Current guidelines recommend non-pharmacological interventions as the first-line treatment for NPS. However, high-quality randomized studies focused on NPS are scarce. The objective here was to examine whether a regular and long-term exercise programme either at home or as a group-based exercise at an adult day care centre has beneficial effects on AD patients' NPS or permanent institutionalizations. Design, setting, and participants: A randomized, controlled trial with 210 community-dwelling AD patients. Intervention: Two types of intervention comprising (1) group-based exercise in day care centres (GE) and (2) tailored home-based exercise (HE), both twice a week for 12 months, were compared with (3) a control group (CG) receiving usual community care. Measurements: NPS were measured with the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) at baseline and 6 months, and depression with the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia (CSDD) at baseline and 12 months. Data on institutionalizations were retrieved from central registers. Results: No significant differences between the groups were detected in NPI at 6 months or in CSDD at 12 months when analyses were adjusted for age, sex, baseline Clinical Dementia Rating, and Functional Independence Measure. There was no difference in admissions to permanent institutional care between the groups. Conclusions: Regular, long-term exercise intervention did not decrease NPS in patients with AD. (C) 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS and European Union Geriatric Medicine Society. All rights reserved. ; Peer reviewed

Introduction: To investigate how frailty status affects the outcome of exercise intervention among home-dwelling participants with Alzheimer disease (AD). Methods: This is a sub-group analysis of a randomized controlled trial. In this trial, home-dwelling participants with AD received either home-based or group-based exercise twice a week for one year (n = 129); the control group received normal care (n = 65). Both the intervention and control group were subdivided into two groups according to modified Fried criteria: prefrail (0-1 criteria) and advanced frailty (2-5 criteria). The Functional Independence Measure (FIM) and number of falls per person-years served as outcome measures. Results: Whereas there was no significant difference in FIM between the prefrail intervention (PRI) and control (PRC) groups at 3 or 6 months, the PRI group deteriorated significantly slower at 12 months (-6.6 [95% CI -8.6 to -4.5] for PRI and -11.1 [95% CI -13.9 to -8.3] for PRC; P = 0.010). Similarly, there was no significant difference between the advanced frailty intervention (AFI) and control (AFC) groups at 3 months, but the difference became significant at 6 months (-8.1 [95% CI -11.1 to -5.2] for AFI and -15.5 [95% CI -20.0 to -11.1] for AFC; P = 0.007) and at 12 months (-8.9 [95% CI -11.9 to -5.9] for AFI and -15.3 [95% CI -20.2 to -10.3] for AFC; P = 0.031). There was also a significant difference in the number of falls in favor of PRI and AFI groups compared to their respective control groups. Conclusion: A long-term exercise intervention benefited people with AD regardless of their stage of frailty. Trial registration: : ACTRN12608000037303. (C) 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS and European Union Geriatric Medicine Society. All rights reserved. ; Peer reviewed