Baseline findings of the Filipino Multicomponent Intervention to Maintain Cognitive Performance among High‐Risk Populations (FINOMAIN) study

Background FINOMAIN is an on‐going community study which integrates nutrition counselling (“the Philippine plate” or pinggang Pinoy), standard vascular care, and physical exercise in the form of a ballroom dance protocol known as INDAK (Improving Neurocognition through Dance and Kinesthetics). The multicomponent intervention will last for 48 weeks. Nutrition counselling and standard vascular care are given every third month, and INDAK is given twice a week for 60 minutes each session. Method FINOMAIN is a two‐arm, single‐blind, cluster randomized controlled trial of a multicomponent intervention to prevent cognitive decline among at‐risk elderly. A total sample of 71 participants (intervention=38, control=33) from 8 community clusters in Quezon City, Metro Manila joined the pilot study. Baseline data included demographics, cognitive profile, behavioural and functional profile, anthropometric measures, and medical and laboratory measures. Result The comprehensive assessment included (1) cognitive measures (Clinical Dementia Rating‐Sum of Boxes, Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale‐Cog, Alzheimer’s Disease 8, Montreal Cognitive Assessment‐Philippines, Mini Mental State Examination‐Philippines, Verbal Fluency [animal and vegetables categories], Digit Symbol Substitution Test, Trail Making Test A and B, Number Cancellation Task, Logical Memory [immediate recall, delayed recall, and recognition], Digit Span [forward and backward], and Boston Naming Test), (2) behavioural and functional measures (Neuropsychiatric Inventory, Geriatric Depression Scale, EQVAS Health‐Related Quality‐of‐Life, Lawton’s Instrumental Activities of Daily Living, Disability Assessment for Dementia, Time Up and Go, Sit to Stand Test, Grip strength, Tinetti Balance and Gait, and Berg Balance Scale), (3) anthropometric measures, and (4) medical and laboratory measures (lipid profile, cholesterol level, fasting blood glucose, vitamin B deficiency, osteoarthritis, anemia, depression episode history, alcohol use, smoking history, and blood amyloid [MDS‐AD test]). The intervention and control groups are comparable in all baseline measures (p’s>0.05). A random sample of 38 was drawn from 52 individuals who attended an 8‐week INDAK training, to compose the intervention group. Compliance to INDAK protocol was 97.4% (>/=80%). Conclusion FINOMAIN is a much‐needed study to confirm the efficacy of multicomponent interventions in preventing cognitive decline among at‐risk elderly in a community setting