The Efficacy and Safety of Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Depression in PD (PD-D-taVNS)

June 25, 2026 updated by: The First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University

Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation Alleviates Depressive Symptoms in Patients With Parkinson's Disease and Depression During Verbal Fluency Tasks

This study is a double blind comparative study examining the effectiveness of the transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation treatment on Parkinson's disease patients with depression. The investigators hypothesize that taVNS will improve depression and cortical activity in Parkinson's disease patients with depression.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Participants in the Experimental group underwent fourteen consecutive daily sessions of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS, twice daily, 30 minutes each time) , whereas participants in the sham stimulation group underwent fourteen consecutive daily sessions of sham taVNS. Assessments of depression symptoms, motor symptoms were performed three times: at baseline, one day post intervention and 2 weeks post intervention. The cortical activity (using Functional near-infrared spectroscopy) were assessed at baseline, one day post intervention.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

30

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 Contact

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

This study recruited right-handed subjects from the Department of Neurology, Huai'an Second People's Hospital. The inclusion criteria for patients with PD and depression were as follows: diagnosis of idiopathic Parkinson's disease based on the clinical diagnostic criteria of the Movement Disorder Society; diagnosis of depressive disorder in accordance with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), with a Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD) score ≥ 8; stable medication regimens for Parkinson's disease for at least one month prior to enrollment; aged 40 to 80 years; and voluntary participation with written informed consent. In addition, age- and gender-matched non-depressed PD patients and healthy controls were enrolled to further compare brain functional characteristics among different groups.

Exclusion Criteria:

presence of cognitive impairment defined as a Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score < 23; ongoing use of antidepressant medications; presence of contraindications related to transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS); receipt of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) treatment within the past month; and comorbid severe neurological, renal, cardiovascular or hepatic diseases.

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: Crossover Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: real Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation
Two modified dot-like electrodes delivered the stimulation to the cymba conchae of left ear in the vicinity of the auricular branch vagus nerve.Stimulation parameters: frequency = 20/4 Hz; pulse width = 200 μs; 20 Hz lasting 7 seconds, alternated with 4 Hz lasting 3 seconds#repeat until 30 min.Every PD patient received stimulation twice daily ,30 minutes each time, for 14 consecutive days. The stimulation intensity was set as the maximum value the patient could tolerate without causing pain.
Device: Active Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation
Active Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation:Two modified dot-like electrodes delivered the stimulation to the cymba conchae of left ear in the vicinity of the auricular branch vagus nerve.Stimulation parameters: frequency = 20/4 Hz; pulse width = 200 μs; 20 Hz lasting 7 seconds, alternated with 4 Hz lasting 3 seconds#repeat until 30 min.Every PD patient received stimulation twice daily ,30 minutes each time, for 14 consecutive days. The stimulation intensity was set as the maximum value the patient could tolerate without causing pain.Sham Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation:Two modified dot-like electrodes delivered the stimulation to the cymba conchae of left ear in the vicinity of the auricular branch vagus nerve. The stimulation paradigm was identical to that of the real stimulation group. The stimulation intensity was set as the maximum value the patient could tolerate without causing pain.
Sham Comparator: Sham Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation
Two modified dot-like electrodes delivered the stimulation to the left earlobe. Stimulation parameters: frequency = 20/4 Hz; pulse width = 200 μs; 20 Hz lasting 7 seconds, alternated with 4 Hz lasting 3 seconds#repeat until 30 min. Every PD patient received stimulation twice daily , 30 minutes each time, for 14 consecutive days. The stimulation intensity was set as the maximum value the patient could tolerate without causing pain.
Device: Sham Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation
Two modified dot-like electrodes delivered the stimulation to the left earlobe. Stimulation parameters: frequency = 20/4 Hz; pulse width = 200 μs; 20 Hz lasting 7 seconds, alternated with 4 Hz lasting 3 seconds#repeat until 30 min. Every PD patient received stimulation twice daily , 30 minutes each time, for 14 consecutive days. The stimulation intensity was set as the maximum value the patient could tolerate without causing pain.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
change of Hamilton Depression Scale Score
Time Frame: Assessed at baseline, one day post intervention,2 weeks post intervention
Hamilton Depression Scale (HAM-D score), which was used for assessing the degree of Depression.The differences in HAMD score before and after treatment can be used to evaluate the effect of taVNS treatment
Assessed at baseline, one day post intervention,2 weeks post intervention
change of Hamilton Depression Scale Score Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAM-D score), which was used for assessing the degree of anxiety.The differences in HAMD score before and after treatment can be used to evaluate the effect of taVNS treatment
Time Frame: Assessed at baseline, one day post intervention#2 weeks post intervention
Assessed at baseline, one day post intervention#2 weeks post intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

The First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University

Collaborators

The Second People's Hospital of Huai'an

Investigators

  • Study Director: Kezhong Zhang, China, Jiang Su the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical 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)

July 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

August 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

August 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 25, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 25, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

July 1, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

July 1, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 25, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2026-06
  • The First Affiliated Hospital (Other Identifier: The First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University)

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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