Prehab-COG: Does Preoperative Exercise Improve Postoperative Cognitive Outcomes? (Prehab-COG)

November 9, 2026 updated by: Cindy Kin, Stanford University

Prehab-COG: Does Preoperative Exercise Improve Postoperative Cognitive Outcomes? A Pilot Study.

The purpose of this protocol is to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of a preoperative exercise intervention (Prehabilitation) program, along with intraoperative Electroencephalography (EEG) recordings, and pre and post operative cognitive testing in older patients undergoing a major surgery.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

15

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

    • California
      • Stanford, California, United States, 94305
        • Stanford Healthcare Centers

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

50 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Adults patients (50 years old or older).
  2. Scheduled to undergo non-cardiac or non-neurological surgery under general anesthesia.
  3. Plan to be admitted to the hospital after surgery for a minimum of one night.
  4. ASA physical status classification I to III.
  5. English or Spanish fluency (Cognitive testing only validated to be used with English or Spanish speakers).

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Not able to understand/speak English or Spanish
  2. Failure to satisfy adequate hearing test with/without hearing aids.
  3. Visual impairment.
  4. Unplanned ICU admission after surgery.
  5. Patients who are undergoing another intervention study that consists of a cognitive or exercise intervention.
  6. Inability to provide consistent EEG data of sufficient quality, determined at enrollment.
  7. Subjects with medical conditions including but not limited to: Angina pectoris, Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) that make it dangerous for unsupervised physical activity, cognitive and psychiatric conditions that may affect ability to consent.
  8. Subjects who have contraindications to unsupervised exercise including but not limited to fall risks, movement disorders, and those who are on ambulatory oxygen therapy.

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: Prevention
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Moderate Exercise Arm

The participants will undergo the virtual exercise intervention 2xweek for 3-4 weeks prior to surgery, and take cognitive testing with non-invasive EEG recordings at 5-point time (the baseline prior to start of the exercise program, at 2-4 days prior to surgery, during the surgery, post-op, and 30-day post surgery). Participants will also be interviewed after the intervention and after surgery to obtain their feedback on their experience with the study procedures.

Eligible participants will receive their exercise program, relevant informational material and training. The exercise program will be tailored to the physical fitness of the participants. The 2xweek virtual sessions take 30 minutes each and include guided exercises at mild-moderate intensity.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Evaluate the feasibility of a preoperative home-based exercise intervention program, with intraoperative EEG recording, and pre and post operative cognitive testing, among older patients undergoing major surgery.
Time Frame: Maximum 3 months from participant enrollment to end/completion of all study-related tasks.

Feasibility will be measured by:

  1. Proportion of Eligible Patients Approached Who Enrolled (Number of eligible patients who enrolled divided by the number of eligible patients approached)
  2. Proportion of Enrolled Participants Completing All Planned Study Data-Collection Assessments (Number and the percentage of the completion for each of the planned data collection points)
Maximum 3 months from participant enrollment to end/completion of all study-related tasks.
Evaluate the acceptability of a preoperative home-based exercise intervention program, with intraoperative EEG recording, and pre and post operative cognitive testing, among older patients undergoing major surgery.
Time Frame: Maximum 3 months from participant enrollment to end/completion of all study-related tasks.

Acceptability will be measured by:

1) Aggregated (mean) Score of Surveyed Participants' Rating Across Each Study-Task (Average score of participants' ratings across study tasks, including exercise program, EEG recording and cognitive testing).

Maximum 3 months from participant enrollment to end/completion of all study-related tasks.

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Investigators

  • Study Director: Cindy Kin, MD, Stanford University
  • Principal Investigator: Patrick Purdon, PhD, Stanford University

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 (Estimated)

January 1, 2027

Primary Completion (Estimated)

June 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

June 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 30, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 9, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

November 12, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

November 12, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 9, 2026

Last Verified

November 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 85871

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.