Florian Knappe, Konstantinia Filippou, Antonis Hatzigeorgiadis, Ioannis D Morres, Sebastian Ludyga, Harald Seelig, Emmanouil Tzormpatzakis, Elsa Havas, Yannis Theodorakis, Roland von Känel, Uwe Pühse, Markus Gerber
Journal: BMC medicine 2024;22(1):387
PMID: 39267115
The global rate of forced displacement has increased, with an average of 36.3 individuals per minute leaving their homes due to global political, economic, and environmental factors. Given the global scope of forced displacement, international organisations emphasise the need for effective and scalable interventions to support individuals’ health and enable meaningful participation in the host society. The primary aim was to assess the impact of a 10-week exercise and sport intervention on cognitive function and pain severity among forcibly displaced individuals. This study was a secondary analysis of the SALEEM randomised controlled trial, involving 142 participants (52.8% women) living in a refugee camp in Greece. Participants were randomly assigned to either the intervention group or a waitlist control group. Results showed that: - the intervention did not directly improve cognitive function. - there was no direct reduction in pain severity. - the intervention group showed significant improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness, which was associated with faster reaction times in cognitive tasks. Authors concluded that while the exercise and sport intervention did not directly impact cognitive function or pain severity, improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness were observed, which benefited aspects of attention.
BACKGROUND
In response to the global scope of forced displacement, international organizations highlight the need of scalable solutions to support individuals' health and integration into host societies. Exposure to high mental and physical stress perceived before, during, and after displacement can impair functional capabilities, essential for adapting to a new environment. This secondary analysis examined the impact of an exercise and sport intervention on cognitive function and pain severity among individuals living in a refugee camp in Greece.
METHODS
We implemented a randomized controlled trial involving n = 142 (52.8% women) forcibly displaced individuals from Southwest Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Participants were randomly assigned to a waitlist or a 10-week co-designed exercise and sport intervention with a 1:1 allocation rate between groups and sexes. Assessments at baseline and follow-up included the Flanker task, the Oddball paradigm, pain severity via visual analog scales, and the Åstrand-Rhyming indirect test of maximal oxygen uptake. We analyzed the intervention effects using structural equation modeling.
RESULTS
Our findings did not indicate a direct intervention effect on cognitive function or pain (p ≥ .332). However, the intervention group significantly improved cardiorespiratory fitness, ß = .17, p = .010, which was associated with faster reaction times in cognitive tasks, ß = - .22, p = .004. Moreover, there was some evidence that adherence might be linked to reduced pain severity, ß = - .14, p = .065.
CONCLUSIONS
Exercise and sport did not directly impact cognitive function and pain severity among a sociodemographically diverse sample living in a refugee camp, suggesting the need for complementary measures. Nevertheless, our results indicate that improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness benefit aspects of attention.
TRIAL REGISTRATION
The study was approved by the local ethics committee of the University of Thessaly (no. 39) and registered prospectively on February 8, 2021 at the ISRCTN registry (no. 16291983).
© 2024. The Author(s).
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