Trial to Reduce Antimicrobial Use In Nursing Home Residents With Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias (TRAIN-AD)

July 19, 2021 updated by: Susan Mitchell, MD, Hebrew SeniorLife

Trial to Reduce Antimicrobial Use In Nursing Home Residents With Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias (TRAIN-AD)

This is a 52-month study (8 months preparation; 36 months to conduct the trial; 8 months data analyses and manuscript preparation) of a cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) of an intervention to improve infection management for suspected UTIs and LRIs among residents with advanced dementia (N=480; N=240/arm) living in NHs (N=24; N=12/arm). The NH is the unit of randomization as the intervention must be delivered at the facility level to avoid contamination and because this is how it would be employed in the real-world. Analyses will be at the patient level.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The final stage of dementia is characterized by recurrent suspected infections. Research has shown these episodes are widely mismanaged, leading to adverse patient and public health outcomes. Antimicrobials are extensively prescribed in advanced dementia, most often in the absence of clinical evidence to support a bacterial infection. Antimicrobial exposure is the main risk factor for multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs). Nursing home (NH) residents with advanced dementia are three times more likely to be colonized with MDROs compared to other residents. Moreover, as these patients are in the terminal phase of dementia, evidence suggests they may not clinically benefit from antimicrobials. Comfort is the stated goal of care for 90% of advanced dementia patients, and the risks and burdens associated with work-up and treatment of suspected infections generally do not promote that goal, particularly when hospitalization is involved. Taken together, there is a clear need to improve infection management in advanced dementia both to provide better end-of-life care to these patients and reduce the public health threat of MDROs.

This is a 52-month study (8 months preparation; 36 months to conduct the trial; 8 months data analyses and manuscript preparation) of a cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) of an intervention to improve infection management for suspected UTIs and LRIs among residents with advanced dementia (N=410; N=205/arm) living in NHs (N=28; N=14/arm). The NH is the unit of randomization as the intervention must be delivered at the facility level to avoid contamination and because this is how it would be employed in the real-world. Analyses will be at the patient level.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

430

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Massachusetts
      • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02131
        • Hebrew SeniorLife

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

21 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Facility inclusion criteria

  1. More than 60 beds
  2. Within 60 miles of Boston

Resident inclusion eligibility criteria

  • Age > or = to 60 years
  • A diagnosis of dementia (any type)
  • Global Deterioration Scale (GDS) score of 7
  • NH length of stay >90 days
  • An individual who can communicate in English has been formally or informally designated as a health care proxy
  • Not comatose GDS stage 7 features include: profound memory deficits (cannot recognize family), total functional dependence, speech <= 5 words, incontinence, and non-ambulatory. GDS 7 was chosen to define advanced dementia as it has been successfully operationalized and validated in or prior studies, and experts agreed to use this definition in research studies. A 90 day minimum length of stay was chosen to exclude short-stay patients.

Provider inclusion criteria

  • Direct care provider of advanced dementia residents (a nurse, nurse practitioner, physician or physician assistant identified by a senior administrator as an individual who cares for residents with advanced dementia)
  • Can communicate in English (because intervention materials are all in English),
  • Over 21 years of age.

Exclusion Criteria:

Residents with cognitive impairment due to causes other than dementia (e.g., head trauma and in short-term, sub-acute SNFs) will be excluded.

Residents' whose proxies cannot communicate in English will be excluded from the study, because the information directed to proxies are only in English.

Providers that do not provide direct care to residents with advanced dementia or who do not speak English.

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Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Quadruple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: TRAIN-AD
The study intervention is a multi-component training and education program targeting direct care providers and healthcare proxies for advanced dementia NH residents, intended to improve the management of urinary and lower respiratory tract infections in advanced dementia patients. There are two components to this practice intervention: 1. Provider Training, and 2. Proxy Education.
The study intervention is a multi-component training and education program targeting direct care providers and healthcare proxies for advanced dementia NH residents, intended to improve the management of urinary and lower respiratory tract infections in advanced dementia patients. There are two components to this practice intervention: 1. Provider Training, and 2. Proxy Education. Intervention components aimed at the provider include: Professionally led infection management training seminars, online infection management course, and infection management guidance algorithms. Additionally participating prescribing providers will be sent bimonthly infection management feedback reports. Proxy Education is completed by providing an infection management in Advanced Dementia booklet to proxies of patients with AD upon resident enrollment in study.
No Intervention: CONTROL
Facility randomized to the control arm will employ usual care for the management for suspected infections in advanced dementia,

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Total Antimicrobial Use for LRI and UTIs
Time Frame: 12 months
The investigators will compare the total number of antimicrobial courses for suspected UTIs and LRIs/person-year (primary outcome) over 12 months in the intervention vs. control (usual care) arms. Data will be obtained from review of the residents' charts and medication administration records q2months up to 12 months
12 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Antimicrobial Use When Minimal Criteria Are Absent for LRI and UTIs
Time Frame: 12 months
The investigators will compare the number of antimicrobial courses prescribed for suspected UTIs and LRIs when minimal criteria for treatment initiation are absent based on consensus guidelines/person-year (secondary outcome) in the intervention vs. control arm over 12 months.
12 months
Burdensome Interventions
Time Frame: 12 months
The investigators will compare the number of burdensome procedures used to evaluate suspected LRIs and UTIs (hospital transfer, bladder catheterization, chest x-ray, blood draws)/person-year between the intervention versus control arm
12 months
Total Antimicrobial Use
Time Frame: 12 months
The investigators will compare the total number of antimicrobial courses prescribed for any reason /person-year over 12 months in the intervention vs. control (usual care) arms. Data will be obtained from review of the residents' charts and medication administration records q2months up to 12 months
12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Susan L Mitchell, MD. MPH, Hebrew SeniorLife

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

October 15, 2017

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 10, 2020

Study Completion (Actual)

March 10, 2020

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 7, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 7, 2017

First Posted (Actual)

August 10, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 10, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 19, 2021

Last Verified

July 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • TRAIN-AD

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

No

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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