Dementia Clinical Trials

As our population ages, more older adults face motor-cognitive declines, increasing their risk of falls and fear of falling. Exercise is an effective way to maintain cognitive function, as supported by recent studies. However, those with poor motor and cognitive abilities often struggle to visit rehabilitation centers, leading to high dropout rates and low adherence to unsupervised programs. A remote exercise program tailored for individuals with cognitive impairments is urgently needed to preserve cognitive function, promote independent living, and reduce related costs. Researchers aim to develop an in-home system for adults with mild cognitive issues or dementia, designed to improve balance and cognition while being remotely supervised through telemedicine. Read Less

Studies have shown that ethnic-racial minority elders are more likely to be neglected from appropriate dementia care in time than the white counterparts. Among minorities group, Korean Americans (KAs) are the 4th largest and one of the most rapidly growing Asian subpopulations and have been characterized as under-resourced and underserved population of dementia care. This research is being done to understand how an education and navigation support program led by trained community health workers (CHWs) helps Korean American elders with probable dementia and the Korean American elders' caregivers. In a 2-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) with 288 dyads, the investigators' aims are to (1) test the effect of a community-based intervention delivered by trained CHWs for undiagnosed KA elders with probable dementia and the KA elders' caregivers, (2) evaluate the effect of the PLAN on improving caregiver's dementia literacy, self-efficacy in dementia care and service use, social support, depression, and quality of life at 6 months in comparison to usual care, and (3) examine whether the effect of PLAN differs across age, sex, English proficiency and education caregiver subgroups. Exploratory Aim 1 is to test the effect of PLAN on Korean elders with probable dementia and caregiver development of a plan regarding dementia care at 6 months in comparison to usual care. The other two Exploratory Aims are to test the applicability of this study in another environment: Exploratory Aim 2: Using an equity-informed human-centered design framework, scale PLAN for implementation in ethnic daycare and Exploratory Aim 3: Pilot test the feasibility and acceptability of PLAN in ethnic adult daycare. Aim 1 and Exploratory Aim test the following hypotheses: (1) Korean elders with probable dementia who receive the PLAN will have higher rates of linkage to medical service for dementia than those in the control group (Aim 1) and (2) Korean elders with probable dementia and the KA elders' caregivers who receive the PLAN will have higher rates of having a plan for dementia care than those in the control group (Exploratory Aim). Aim 2 tests the following hypothesis: Caregivers in the PLAN group will have higher dementia literacy, self-efficacy in dementia care and service use, social support, and quality of life, and lower depression than those in the control group. Read Less

Building upon prior work, the investigator team developed a communication intervention for older adults with ADRD who are considering a decision about cancer management (adapted intervention: COACH-Cog). The investigators hypothesize that for patients with dual diagnoses of ADRD and cancer, COACH-Cog will increase autonomy support of care partners and patients in the decision-making process, leading to greater acknowledgement and support of cognitive concerns and cognitive-related goals, thereby improving goal concordant care. The investigators are conducting a pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT; cluster randomized by physician) including approximately 45 oncology clinicians and 130 patient/care partner dyads evaluating the effect of COACH-Cog on care partner and patient autonomy support, care partner well-being, goal-concordance, and communication. Read Less

This study will evaluate the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of the novel Resilient Together for Dementia (RT-D) intervention for couples following dementia diagnoses. The primary target is emotional distress, and the program aims to prevent chronic distress in at-risk couples. Read Less

The goal of this clinical trial is to test the effectiveness of a computerized anxiety sensitivity treatment (CAST) compared to a health education control (HEC) in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or mild Alzheimer's Disease and related dementias (ADRD) and their care partners. The main questions it aims to answer are: 1. Efficacy of CAST in reducing anxiety and related symptoms among those with MCI/mild ADRD 2. Efficacy of CAST in reducing care partner burden among care partners of people living with MCI/mild ADRD 3. Explore treatment mechanisms using a multi-modal assessment battery of anxiety sensitivity and anxiety Participants will complete six in-person visits including a baseline assessment, two intervention sessions, and three follow-up assessments at 1, 3, and 6-months posttreatment. Participants will also complete three weeks of ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) for one week prior to intervention, one week between intervention sessions, and one week after intervention. If there is a comparison group: Researchers will compare CAST to HEC to see if CAST reduces anxiety and related symptoms in older adults with MCI/mild ADRD and care partner burden to a greater degree than HEC. Read Less

The purpose of this preliminary study is to examine the effects of adult day service use on subjective and physiological measures of stress in 50 Black informal caregivers for individuals with dementia (IWD). The PI of the proposed study has substantial training in primary data collection and complex-survey secondary data analysis, she also has the fundamental knowledge to investigate how sociocultural and behavioral factors can influence psychosocial stress. The proposed study will enroll participants from adult day service (ADS) nationally, to examine the effects of adult day service use on subjective and physiological measures of stress in 50 Black informal caregivers. The proposed study extends the current science on the use of ADS on subjective and physiological stress by 1) examining differential impacts of ADS specifically on subjective measures of stress for Black caregivers, 2) evaluating the impact of ADS use on physiological measures of stress among Black caregivers; and 3) examining the relationship between subjective indicators and physiological processes for Black caregivers. Read Less

The current study aims to examine the benefits of an education/support group program for individuals with progressive aphasia (caused by various etiologies, diagnoses) and their carepartners. The current study utilizes pre-, post-treatment, and follow-up assessments to measure effects of a psychoeducational support group and an implementation/communication skills training phase on measures of psychosocial function, communicative effectiveness and speech/language function. Analysis of study-specific surveys and semi-structured interviews will provide qualitative data regarding outcomes. Before beginning the education and support group, focus groups will be run in order to set priorities for the themes to be included in the education program. Participants will join via tele-based means if preferred and these participants may reside in the United States, or internationally including Mexico and Spain. Read Less

The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Research Institute is performing this research to accelerate diverse disease research using cells from the body (such as skin or blood cells) to make stem cells and other types of cells, conduct research on the samples, perform genetic testing, and store the samples for future use. Through this research, researchers hope to identify future treatments or even cures for the major diseases of our time. Read Less

The purpose of this research is to see how sleep and exercise affects dementia risk over time. Read Less

Our study intends to offer 'real world' evidence of a viable, sustainable means to mobilize primary care via a comprehensive strategy for detecting cognitive impairment and dementias, advancing next steps for referral, and participating in the care planning and management of affected patients and caregivers. We will conduct a clinic-randomized, pragmatic trial testing the effectiveness and fidelity of our NIH Toolbox-derived paradigm to improve early detection and management of cognitive impairment/dementia in primary care settings serving health disparate patient populations. Read Less

Our study objective is to widely implement and evaluate a user-centered, scalable, electronic health record (EHR)-linked strategy for the routine detection of cognitive decline among diverse primary care settings. This strategy, called ToolboxDetect, will provide an efficient and sensitive cognitive screen that can be easily implemented in everyday clinical settings, and is responsive to patient, family, and caregiver concerns for potential symptoms of cognitive decline (CD) and cognitive impairment (CI). Read Less

The main purpose of this intervention study is to test if the community health worker (CHW)-led care transition support intervention is feasible and acceptable to the persons living with dementia (PLWD)'s caregivers, and other healthcare providers. Main hypotheses of the study are: 1. the CHW interventionist will adhere to the intervention protocol with the score of 80% or higher on the intervention fidelity checklist throughout the intervention delivery period; 2. caregiver participants in the intervention group will rate the intervention, and the CHW interventionist to be helpful and satisfactory at the end of the intervention; 3. intervention feasibility (as measured by intervention completion rate, i.e., number of participants completing the telephone sessions with the CHW coach, and participant assessment completion rate, i.e., number of participants completing each study assessment at baseline, 6, 12 weeks) will be at equal to or higher than 80%; and 4. intervention participants - patient and caregiver - outcomes will improve at post-discharge Week 12 follow up from baseline and Week 6. Read Less