Brain Fitness in Parkinson's Disease

December 7, 2012 updated by: Jerri D. Edwards, University of South Florida

Cognitive Speed of Processing Training Among Persons With Parkinson's Disease

The purpose of this study is to examine the feasibility and potential effectiveness of a cognitive training program among persons with Parkinson's disease. It is hypothesized that individuals with PD will be able to complete and benefit from the intervention.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Parkinson's Disease (PD) affects about 1 million individuals in the United States. In addition to the typical motor dysfunction, PD also affects cognition and vision, even in early stages of the disease, impairing instrumental activities of daily living such as driving. Reduced cognitive speed of processing, or bradyphrenia, strongly contributes to cognitive decline in PD. Recent research has demonstrated that interventions can enhance cognitive speed of processing, protect against further cognitive decline, and improve the everyday functioning of relatively healthy, older adults. However, the potential of such training techniques to enhance cognitive functions among subpopulations with different disease states, such as PD, has not been thoroughly investigated. The proposed study will further examine the feasibility and test the efficacy of a well-established cognitive training tool among individuals in the early stages of PD who have not been diagnosed with dementia. A variety of factors have been found to influence cognitive performance among persons with PD and may moderate their ability to benefit from cognitive training such as age at disease onset, disease duration, manifestation, severity, and medication use as well as concomitant depression. These factors along with demographic variables will be evaluated as moderators of training benefit. Baseline cognitive assessments will be completed among seventy-five individuals with PD who will be randomized to cognitive training or a treatment-delayed control condition. The efficacy of training to immediately enhance cognitive functioning will be evaluated through a post-training (or equivalent delay) assessment. Disease and demographic factors that may impact the efficacy of cognitive training for persons with PD will be examined in relation to training gains. Considering that cognitive function among individuals with PD is a strong predictor of everyday functioning and subsequent need for long term care, enhancing cognitive function of individuals with PD through training has great potential to prolong such persons' productivity, independence, and quality of life. The information gained from this study will be useful for identifying individuals with PD who are most likely to benefit from cognitive training as well as the development, refinement, and implementation of appropriate cognitive interventions for this population.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

87

Phase

  • Phase 3

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

  • United States
    • Florida
      • Tampa, Florida, United States, 33620
        • University of South Florida

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

40 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Criteria will be age 40 years or older and clinical diagnosis of idiopathic PD in Hoehn and Yahr stages 1 to 3, and on a stable medication regimen (no expected changes in next six months). Subjects with random or severe motor fluctuations and dyskinesias will be excluded. Further inclusion criteria will be no diagnosis of dementia nor evidence of severe dementia that may limit ability to benefit from training, and adequate visual acuity to view testing and training stimuli (far visual acuity >= 20/80).

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: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: InSight Brain Fitness
Behavioral: InSight
A cognitive intervention designed to enhance speed of visual processing.
Placebo Comparator: No contact-control
Other: No contact-control group
No contact-control group.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Useful Field of View
Time Frame: 3 and 6 months
A measure of visual processing speed independent of motor speed.
3 and 6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Depressive Symptoms
Time Frame: 3 and 6 months
GDS and CES-D
3 and 6 months
CSRQ
Time Frame: 3 and 6 months
Quality of Life measure
3 and 6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of South Florida

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Jerri D Edwards, Ph.D., University of South Florida

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

July 1, 2009

Primary Completion (Actual)

May 1, 2012

Study Completion (Actual)

May 1, 2012

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 29, 2010

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 29, 2010

First Posted (Estimate)

July 1, 2010

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

December 10, 2012

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 7, 2012

Last Verified

December 1, 2012

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • USF105832

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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