The Brain Health Champion Study (BHC)

The Brain Health Champion Study: Promoting Non-pharmacological Interventions in Cognitive Disorders and Those at Risk

6-month, randomized, controlled investigation measuring the effect of increased clinical contact and personalization compared to standard physician counseling on adherence to consensus-based, brain health recommendations for patients with subjective cognitive decline, mild cognitive impairment, and early dementia or patients who are at risk for developing these conditions.

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Mild Cognitive Impairment; Subjective Cognitive Decline; Dementia, Mild; At Risk for Cognitive Decline
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Brain Health Champion

Detailed Description

This is a 6-month, randomized, controlled investigation measuring the effect of increased clinical contact and personalized recommendations from a health coach, compared to standard physician counseling on adherence to consensus-based, brain health recommendations, including 80 patients with either subjective cognitive decline, MCI, or early dementia enrolled from a hospital-based memory disorders clinic, or, with risk factors for dementia enrolled from a hospital-based primary care clinic. Participants and caregivers in the health coach arm work with a health coach within their respective practice, called the a "brain health champion" (BHC), through weekly motivational phone calls every 6 weeks. In the encounters and visits, BHCs and patients/caregivers work together to establish, update, and achieve personalized, attainable lifestyle goals. Participants in the control arm receive standard counseling and education from providers during routine clinic visits. Changes in physical activity, dietary pattern, and social and cognitive activities are measured using questionnaires validated in cognitively impaired and normal populations. Other outcomes include measures of quality of life (QOL), cognitive function, neuropsychiatric status, sleep quality, and behavior. Follow-up assessments are also completed at 6 months post-intervention, with some patients receiving "booster" encounters to assess the maintenance of behaviors.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 95
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Massachusetts
    • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02115
      • Brigham and Women's Hospital, Department of Neurology

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 55 years to 85 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion criteria:

• Be age 60 to 79
• Existing patient at Brigham Health system with at least one prior visit with providers and plans to establish/continue longitudinal care
• Be sufficiently fluent in the English language to understand instructions and perform the cognitive and functional tests
• For neurology participants only: Have a diagnosis of Subjective Cognitive Disorder (SCD) (MMSE guideline 27-30), Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) due to Alzheimer disease (AD), cerebrovascular disease (CVD), or mixed-type AD/CVD (MMSE guideline 24-30), or mild dementia due to AD, CVD, or mixed-AD/CVD (MMSE guideline 20-30). In some cases, based on the clinical judgment of the treating neurologist, we may enroll a patient who falls outside of these guidelines or whose diagnosis and overall level of functioning does not perfectly correlate to their MMSE score.
• For primary care participants only: Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging, and Incidence of Dementia (CAIDE) dementia risk score of ≥ 6, or score of 5 plus one of the following: a history of ADRD in a first-degree relative, or type II diabetes or "pre-diabetes" spectrum (A1C level ≥ 5.7)

Exclusion criteria:

• Be enrolled in another health behavior or non-pharmacologic intervention for a neurocognitive disorder
• Be unable to or unwilling to carry out regular physical exercise, multiple times weekly.
• Be not recommended to participate by their Internist/Primary Care Provider due to health-related concerns.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Brain Health Champion (BHC); A "health coach" intervention with weekly phone calls	Behavioral: Brain Health Champion; A health coach embedded within an existing clinical care team
No Intervention: Standard of Care (SOC); The current physician/provider counseling on brain health to reduce cognitive decline or incidence of cognitive impairment that occurs, per providers' own practice

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Self-report adherence to Mediterranean diet	Goulet Mediterranean Diet Score (questionnaire). Measured adherence to the Mediterranean Diet. Likert Scale 0-44, with higher values indicating stronger adherence to the dietary pattern.	6 months
Self-report participation in cognitive and socially stimulating activities	Florida Cognitive Activities Scale (questionnaire). Measures participation in socially and cognitively stimulating activities. Likert Scale 0-180, with higher values indicating greater participation.	6 months
Self-report exercise and physical activity	Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (questionnaire). Measures walking, moderate, and vigorous activity. Zero lower limit, no upper limit. Higher values indicate more physical activity.	6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Quality of Life Self-Report	Flanagan Quality of Life Scale (questionnaire). Measures quality of life. Likert scale 0-112, higher values indicate higher quality of life.	6 months
Neuropsychiatric status	Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire. Measures caregiver report of 12 neuropsychiatric symptoms, severity (1-3) and distress (0-5) with higher values indicating more neuropsychiatric symptoms.	6 months
Cognitive function	Mini Mental Status Examination: Multidomain cognitive test, scored 0-30. PACC-BHC: Neurosychological test battery including: 1) Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test (FCSRT); 2) Logical Memory, immediate and delayed Story Recall; 3) Visual Paired Associates; 4) Digit-Symbol Substitution Test; 5) Trail Making Test, Part A; 6) Trail Making, Part B; 7) Number Span, 8) Category Fluency (animals, fruits, vegetables); and 9) Phonemic Fluency.	6 months
Sleep	Medical Outcomes Study Sleep Scale Likert scale measuring sleep quality and sleep problems index. 0-60 with greater values representing higher sleep quality and lower sleep problems.	6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Brigham and Women's Hospital
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Seth A Gale, MD, Brigham and Women's Hospital

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Schwartz HEM, Bay CP, McFeeley BM, Krivanek TJ, Daffner KR, Gale SA. The Brain Health Champion study: Health coaching changes behaviors in patients with cognitive impairment. Alzheimers Dement (N Y). 2019 Nov 12;5:771-779. doi: 10.1016/j.trci.2019.09.008. eCollection 2019.

Helpful Links

• Related Info

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 8, 2017
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 1, 2024
• Study Completion (Estimated): June 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 25, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 9, 2018
• First Posted (Actual): December 12, 2018

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): November 21, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 18, 2025
• Last Verified: November 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: mild cognitive impairment; brain health; dementia risk reduction
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Mental Disorders; Neoplasms; Immune System Diseases; Neoplasms by Histologic Type; Neurocognitive Disorders; Cognition Disorders; Lymphatic Diseases; Lymphoproliferative Disorders; Immunoproliferative Disorders; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin; Lymphoma; Hemic and Lymphatic Diseases; Cognitive Dysfunction; Lymphoma, Follicular; Dementia
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2017P000384

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