Background:Cognitiveimpairmentisprevalentamongolderadultsandresultsindegradedqualityoflifeforolderadults.Asthepopulationages,thismaycauseahugeburdentosociety.Researchhasdemonstratedthatphysicalexerciseisbeneficialtocognitivefunction.Thepurposeofthismeta-analysiswastocriticallyassesstheeffectofTaiChiexerciseonglobalcognitive,executive,andmemoryfunctionsinolderadults.Methods:Afterathoroughelectronicsearchandselection,eightstudieswereincludedinthismeta-analysiswithtwocross-sectionalandsixinterventionstudies.Ninevariablesincludedinthismeta-analysiswere:minimentalstatusexamination(MMSE),Alzheimer’sdiseaseassessmentscale-cognitivesubscale(ADAS-cog),trailmakingtestpartA(TMA),trailmakingtestpartB(TMB),digitspantestforward(DSF),digitspantestbackward(DSB),visualspantestbackward(VSB),verbalfluencytest(VFT),andworddelayrecalltest(WDR).Theeffectsizesandforestplotsoftheseninevariablesweregenerated.Results:Four(MMSE,DSB,VSB,andVFT)outofninevariablesweresignificantlyimprovedafterTaiChiexercisewiththeeffectsizesrangedfrom0.20to0.46(smalltomedium).MMSErepresentedglobalcognitivefunction,andDSB,VSB,andVFTrepresentedmemoryfunction.Conclusion:TaiChiasamind-bodyexercisehasthepositiveeffectsonglobalcognitiveandmemoryfunctions,andmoreconsistentpositiveeffectswerefoundonmemoryfunction,especiallyverbalworkingmemory.
