The Effect of a Single Session of Balance and Coordination Training on Cognitive Function in Older Adults

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

General comments

The authors have clearly stated that the purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of a single session of balance and coordination exercises on cognitive functions in older adults, compared to that of a single session of aerobic exercises or a single control session of reading. The paper is well-written, easy to follow and adds merit to the vital role of physical exercise in health among seniors. Given this approach, this work can enhance future attempts in similar research area. However, I have highlighted a few suggestions and concerns in my specific comments section (below) that need to be addressed before considering whether this work should be published or not.

Specific comments

TITLE

- Modify the title as follows “The effect of a single session of balance and coordination training on cognitive function in older adults”.

INTRODUCTION

- I suggest adding a sentence about the beneficial role of physical activity in general health of older adults according to the latest guidelines by the World Health Organization (1).

- A statement about the popularity of fitness training programs for older adults and exercise for weight loss in both Europe and worldwide according to the latest reports recently published by the American College of Sports Medicine (2,3) could be a useful addition.

Suggested References:

1.      Bull FC, Al-Ansari SS, Biddle S, Borodulin K, Bumanat MP, Cardonal G, et al. World Health Organization 2020 guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour. Br J Sports Med 2020; 54(24): 1451-1462.

2.      Kercher VM, Kercher K, Bennion T, Levy P, Alexander C, Amaral PC, et al. 2022 Fitness Trends from Around the Globe. ACSMs Health Fit J 2023; 27(1): 19-30.

3.      Batrakoulis A. European Fitness Trends for 2020. ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal 2019; 23(6), 28–35.   

MATERIALS AND METHODS

- Did you conduct a power analysis? If so, please add this information to this section in order to justify the selected sample size. If not, that should be added as an additional limitation, since the small sample size used in the present study.

- Table 1 should include further participants’ descriptive characteristics such as height, body mass, and body mass index.

RESULTS

- Statistically significant results should be accompanied by 95% confidence intervals and effects sizes throughout this section, including tables.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

We thank the reviewer for the comments which helped improving the manuscript. We hope that we addressed all comments received to the reviewer's full satisfaction.

Below are our point-by-point responses to your comments in bold

 

TITLE

- Modify the title as follows “The effect of a single session of balance and coordination training on cognitive function in older adults”.

We thank the reviewer for this suggestion, and have modified the title.

INTRODUCTION

- I suggest adding a sentence about the beneficial role of physical activity in general health of older adults according to the latest guidelines by the World Health Organization (1).

We have added a sentence about the beneficial role of physical activity in general health of older adults as suggested. Please see page  3

- A statement about the popularity of fitness training programs for older adults and exercise for weight loss in both Europe and worldwide according to the latest reports recently published by the American College of Sports Medicine (2,3) could be a useful addition.

We have added the first suggested reference.

Suggested References:

1. Bull FC, Al-Ansari SS, Biddle S, Borodulin K, Bumanat MP, Cardonal G, et al. World Health Organization 2020 guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour. Br J Sports Med 2020; 54(24): 1451-1462.
2. Kercher VM, Kercher K, Bennion T, Levy P, Alexander C, Amaral PC, et al. 2022 Fitness Trends from Around the Globe. ACSMs Health Fit J2023; 27(1): 19-30.
3. Batrakoulis A. European Fitness Trends for 2020. ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal2019; 23(6), 28–35.   

MATERIALS AND METHODS

- Did you conduct a power analysis? If so, please add this information to this section in order to justify the selected sample size. If not, that should be added as an additional limitation, since the small sample size used in the present study.

We have added the following explanation (please see page 5)

A simulation-based power analysis was used to find a sample size that would reach 80% statistical power. Using G-POWER 3.1 program, the following data was entered: effect size= 0.25; power (1-β)=0.8; α=0.05; r=0.5. Accordingly, a sample size of 26 participants was required. However, 30 participants were recruited to the study to come over cases of dropping out.

- Table 1 should include further participants’ descriptive characteristics such as height, body mass, and body mass index.

As this data was not collected, we can’t describe it. However, as per the request of reviewer 2 we have added separated data for men and women.

RESULTS

- Statistically significant results should be accompanied by 95% confidence intervals and effects sizes throughout this section, including tables.

We have added Table 2 for and included 95% CI and ES as requested

Reviewer 2 Report

 

 The authors of the manuscript, “Could a single session of balance and coordination exercises improve attention in older adults?” have tried to evaluate the effect of a single session of balance and coordination exercises on cognitive functions in older adults and  compared to that of a single session of aerobic exercises or a single control session of reading. The write-up is good but I suggest some minor changes, which are as following.

1.     Authors must give some account or definitions of chronic and acute resistance exercises in introduction, so that reader should be clear about the exercises involved.

2.     Tai Chi should be defined in short words in 5^th paragraph and last line of paragraph starting from, ‘These researchers …….upto in the program’ should be split into two sentences, and otherwise it is too long and fades away in its sense.

3.     In material and methods, write about males also, although they are seven in number.

4.     The bar diagrams of figure 1 and figure 2 should be merged in one diagram.

5.     Unnecessary sign of significance (on x-axis) in figures 1 and 2 should be removed.

6.     Significance value should be written with capital P and 0 must be there before decimal point. For example it should be P<0.05

7.     Second line of discussion (The main findings……control task) should be re-written with clear message.

Author Response

We thank the reviewer for the comments which helped improving the manuscript. We hope that we addressed all comments received to the reviewer's full satisfaction.

Below are our point-by-point responses to your comments in bold

The authors of the manuscript, “Could a single session of balance and coordination exercises improve attention in older adults?” have tried to evaluate the effect of a single session of balance and coordination exercises on cognitive functions in older adults and  compared to that of a single session of aerobic exercises or a single control session of reading. The write-up is good but I suggest some minor changes, which are as following.

1. Authors must give some account or definitions of chronic and acute resistance exercises in introduction, so that reader should be clear about the exercises involved.

We have added and explanation for the resistance exercise (see page 4)

2. Tai Chi should be defined in short words in 5^thparagraph and last line of paragraph starting from, ‘These researchers …….upto in the program’ should be split into two sentences, and otherwise it is too long and fades away in its sense.

We have added an explanation of Tai Chi. In addition, we have split this paragraph into two sentences as requested. (see page 5)

3. In material and methods, write about males also, although they are seven in number.

We have added separate information for men and women in Table 1.

4. The bar diagrams of figure 1 and figure 2 should be merged in one diagram.

We did not understand this comment. As we understand, because each domain was analyzed independently, they should appear in the result separately.

5. Unnecessary sign of significance (on x-axis) in figures 1 and 2 should be removed.

We have removed unnecessary signs

6. Significance value should be written with capital P and 0 must be there before decimal point. For example it should be P<0.05

We have changed the text as requested throughout the results.

7. Second line of discussion (The main findings……control task) should be re-written with clear message.

We have changed this sentence. Please see page 15.