Short-term Cognitive Training in Late-life Depression

April 6, 2016 updated by: Linda Mah, MD, Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest

The Effects of Short-term Cognitive Training on Cognition and Mood Symptoms in Late-life Depression: A Pilot Study

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of the alternative uses training (AUT) and word association training (WAT) on cognitive functions and mood symptoms in late-life depression (LLD).

The hypotheses are:

  1. post-training cognitive performance will be superior to pre-training cognitive performance
  2. post-training depressive symptomatology will be less severe as compared with pre-training clinical severity and
  3. AUT group will show better post-training cognitive performance and improved mood symptoms when compared with the WAT group.

Study Overview

Status

Terminated

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

6

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

  • Canada
    • Ontario
      • Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M6A 2E1
        • Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest

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

55 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Male or female
  • Age >=55
  • Proficiency in English
  • Current depressive episode and meet criteria for DSM-IV major depressive disorder
  • Hamilton Depression Rating Scale score >=15
  • Able to give informed consent
  • Stable medication dosages during the training period

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Other DSM-IV Axis I psychiatric disorders, except for anxiety disorders due to high comorbidity with mood disorders
  • Mini-Mental State Examination score of <26
  • Diagnosis of dementia
  • Neurological and medical conditions known to affect cognition (e.g., stroke, head injury, previous chemotherapy for cancer)
  • Unstable medical illnesses requiring active treatment
  • Vision or hearing impairment affecting ability to participate in training

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: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Triple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Other: Alternative Uses Training
In this task, subjects are asked to produce atypical and alternative uses for common daily objects.
Behavioral: Cognitive training
20 minutes/day for 5 sequential working days
Other Names:
  • cognitive intervention
Other: Word Association Training
In this task, subjects are asked to generate the first word that comes to their mind, and thus, encourages more general and spontaneous divergent thinking.
Behavioral: Cognitive training
20 minutes/day for 5 sequential working days
Other Names:
  • cognitive intervention

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Changes in cognitive functions including fluid intelligence, executive function, language, memory and motor speed
Time Frame: Within 3 days before the first cognitive training day and within 3 days after the last cognitive training day

Computerized Executive Tasks:

  • Number-Letter Task
  • Letter-Memory Task
  • Stroop Task

Non-Computerized Measures:

  • Cattell Culture Fair Intelligence Test
  • Mattis Dementia Rating Scale-2 (DRS-2)
Within 3 days before the first cognitive training day and within 3 days after the last cognitive training day

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Changes in mood including depression, anxiety and apathy
Time Frame: Within 3 days before the first cognitive training day and within 3 days after the last cognitive training day
  • Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS)
  • Apathy Evaluation Scale (AES)
  • Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (Ham-A)
  • Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)
Within 3 days before the first cognitive training day and within 3 days after the last cognitive training day

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest

Collaborators

Baycrest

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Linda Mah, MD, M.H.Sc., Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest

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

August 1, 2012

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2014

Study Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 10, 2012

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 10, 2012

First Posted (Estimate)

December 12, 2012

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

April 7, 2016

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 6, 2016

Last Verified

April 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 12-28

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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