Effects of Exergames and Resistance Training

Frailty is a common geriatric condition with significantly increased vulnerability to stress and susceptibility of negative health-related outcomes. The prevalence rates of frailty varies across countries, and the pooled estimates of prevalence rates of 52.3% and 40.2% of frailty and prefrailty were reported among nursing home residents respectively. Previous studies also revealed that frailty is predictive for various adverse health outcomes. Sacropenia is a major etiologic risk factor to frailty. It refers to an age-related generalised muscle disorder featuring with loss of muscle mass and function5. Talar et al systematically reviewed and meta-analysed 25 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) using resistance training among 2,267 older people (age \>65 years) with pre-sarcopenia, sarcopenia, pre-frailty or frailty. It was revealed that, compared to control, resistance training with at least 8 weeks intervention period had small to large effects in improving handgrip strength, lower-limb strength, agility, gait speed, postural stability, functional performance, fat mass and muscle \[Effect size (ES) = 0.29 - 0.93, p \<0.001 to = 0.007\]. Cognitive impairment is another major risk factor for declined frailty status among prefrail older people. Non-frail older people are known to have better performance on cognitive status, including processing speed, executive function, attention and working memory, immediate memory and delayed memory (g = 0.320 to 0.64), than frail older people. Ample research evidence suggested that cognition predicts the incidence of frailty. Exergaming is a fast growing research trend in gerontechnology and several commercial exergaming consoles, such as the Xbox system (including Xbox One and Xbox 360) and Nintendo Will (Wii Sports and Wii Fit), are available. Ogawa et al systematically reviewed 7 clinical trials (5 RCTs and 2 uncontrolled studies) and revealed that exergaming could improve cognitive functions, including executive function, process speed and reaction time, of older people. Moreover, a recent RCT revealed that, compared with the combined use of exercise (resistance, aerobic and balance training), a 12 week Kinect-based exergaming could better improve the global cognition \[F(1, 44) = 5.277, p = 0.026\] as measured by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment of community-frail older people. The Kinect-based group (n = 25) also demonstrated significant improvement in verbal (p \< 0.05) and working (p \< 0.05) memory post-intervention but the combined exercise group (n = 21) did not. Given that sacropenia and impaired cognitive function are 2 major contributors to frailty; and exergaming and resistance training are effective treatments in improving the cognitive function and sacropenia of older people respectively, this study aims to evaluate the effects of the combined use of exergaming and resistance training in improving the frailty of nursing home residents.