Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Dance on Cognition and Depression in Healthy Older Adults.
Level 1 - systematic review of randomized trials
Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
PubMed 39480190 · doi:10.1249/MSS.0000000000003585
What was done
Five electronic databases were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing formal or traditional dance interventions against any control group in older adults (≥60 years old) who were healthy or living with mild cognitive impairment. Two independent reviewers screened studies and extracted data. Random-effects meta-analysis with robust variance estimation was conducted, and potential treatment-, study-, and outcome-level moderators were evaluated using approximate Hotelling-Zhang tests.
What was found
Seventeen RCTs met inclusion criteria, and 13 RCTs (n = 1,174; mean age 70.7 years; 66.3% female) providing 76 effect sizes were meta-analyzed. Individual effect sizes (Hedges g) ranged from -0.97 to 2.88. Dance interventions yielded a small, statistically significant improvement in cognition (g = 0.27; 95% CI, 0.05–0.50; P = 0.022) and a statistically significant improvement in depression (g = 0.43; 95% CI, 0.06–0.80; P = 0.036). Only one RCT assessed anxiety, precluding meta-analysis. No tested moderator variables significantly explained effect size variation (P > 0.05).
Why it matters
Dance provides a multi-domain intervention combining physical, cognitive, and social engagement that can modestly support cognitive health and alleviate depressive symptoms in aging adults.
Limits
Control groups were pooled across any comparator type (active vs. passive), masking potential differences in relative efficacy. Individual effect sizes spanned a wide range (-0.97 to 2.88), indicating substantial underlying heterogeneity. Only one study evaluated anxiety, preventing meta-analytic conclusions for that outcome, and the abstract provides no data on intervention duration or long-term post-intervention retention.
Cited by
- context Meta-analyses of dance interventions in older adults indicate that ballroom and line dancing produce the greatest improvements in cognitive function among physical activity modalities.