Can exercise games interventions improve cognitive abilities, mood and quality of life in older people with frailty and pre- frailty syndrome?

Background Exergames represent an emerging area of research in the rehabilitation of individuals with frailty. The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of exergames on the cognitive abilities, mood and quality of life of 65 + older adults with frailty and pre-frailty syndrome. Moreover, the study assessed participants’ motivational awareness and satisfaction with the exergaming intervention, focusing on the fulfillment of their personal needs and the overall perceived quality of the program. Methods The study was conducted in 111 patients (31 men, 80 women) aged 65–89 who volunteered for a rehabilitation program. A standardized training program (endurance training with elements of resistance and balance exercises, as well as memory and visual-spatial orientation) was carried out with the use of the innovative ActivLife rehabilitation system, supported by the VRTherapist application and Kinect technology. The participants exercised under the supervision of an instructor for at least 30 minutes twice a week for a period of 6 weeks. Results The study showed that exergame-based intervention led to meaningful improvements in cognitive performance, mood, and quality of life among older adults with varying levels of frailty. Frail individuals experienced an increase in their MoCA scores, rising from a mean of 22.47 to 24.09 (p = 0.001, power = 0.91). Similar enhancements were observed in the pre-frail group (p = 0.001, power = 0.97) and the robust group ( p < 0.001, power = 0.99). The study also demonstrated a significant reduction in depression symptoms after exergames intervention in all study groups (GDS scale: frailty p = 0.015, pre-frailty p = 0.023, robust p = 0.001, respectively). Quality of life also improved, most prominently in pre-frail participants (p < 0.001), who reported benefits in both physical and mental dimensions (p = 0.001 and p = 0.004 respectively). In addition to clinical effects, the intervention increased motivation and overall satisfaction of participants. Conclusions The study confirms the general usefulness of implementing of exergames rehabilitation program in older adults. Since exercise game interventions for frail older adults are a new area of research, more research is needed to compare the effectiveness of such form of intervention with other methods of motor-cognitive skills training. Trial registration: This study has been retrospectively registered in the ClinicalTrials.gov database and has been assigned the ID NCT07036224