BACKGROUND: Parkinson's disease (PD) is neurodegenerative, explained by the loss of dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra, affecting most commonly people over 60 years of age. The aim of this study was to analyze the benefits in both motor and non-motor symptoms, found after a 16-week pro- gram of physical activity in people with this disease who belong to the Parkinson Foundation of Ecuador (FUNDAPE). METHODS: This is a quasi-experimental interventional study, with a sample of 17 patients with Parkin- son’s disease diagnosis that went through a 16 week program of aerobic exercise, to analyze its impact on maximum oxygen consumption, motor skills, balance, cognition, body composition, and presence of depression. For the analysis, Wilconson “t-test” was applied. Confidence interval was 95%, 5% error. RESULTS: The maximum oxygen consumption improved 29.86%. The percentage of fat mass decreased 10.78%. The muscle weight percentage increased 4.58%. Regarding the different evaluated tests, the mean score for UPRDS improved 8.29%; the mean score for Berg Scale test improved 6.25%; regarding Ye- savage Geriatric Depression Scale, the percentage of patients with probable depression decreased from 42.86% to 7.14% in the group with PD of ≤5 years of evolution, and from 66.67% to 33.33% in the group with PD for than 5 years; regarding the Folstein Minimental State of Mind test, we found no benefits. CONCLUSION: This study showed that there are statistically significant benefits resulting from the appli- cation of a 16 week aerobic exercise program in patients with Parkinson’s disease, related to the motor and non-motor symptoms of the disease, body composition, and maximum oxygen consumption. No significant benefits were found in relation to the cognitive impairment associated with the disease. The benefits were greater in patients younger than 60 years of age, and were also greater in patients with less than 5 years of evolution of the disease.
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