Dementia Clinical Trials in Pittsburgh, PA

Delirium superimposed on dementia (DSD) is an acute and serious condition that is common in persons living with dementia (PLWD). Involvement of family caregivers may aid prevention, early detection, and management of DSD. The purpose of the proposed study is two-fold. First, the investigators will develop a family-centered, mHealth-enhanced DSD caregiving mastery program ("Aliviado DSD Caregiving Mastery Program") through a 5-week co-design workshop with 8 family caregivers (Aim 1). The investigators will adapt/refine the existing clinician-centered DSD contents and an mHealth app from the evidence-based "Aliviado Dementia Care" program for use by family caregivers to support their day-to-day implementation of DSD detection, prevention, and management tasks in the community. Second, the investigators will pilot test the full Aliviado DSD Caregiving Mastery Program with 30 family caregivers of PLWD at high risk for delirium, assessing feasibility, acceptability, app usability, and preliminary program impact (Aim 2). Read Less

The purpose of the Trial-Ready Cohort - Down Syndrome (TRC-DS) is to enroll 120 healthy adults with Down syndrome (DS), between the ages of 25-55, into a trial ready cohort (TRC), and up to 250 participants in total including co-enrolled in the Alzheimer Biomarkers Consortium - Down Syndrome (ABC-DS) study. Participants enrolled in the TRC-DS will undergo longitudinal cognitive and clinical assessment, genetic and biomarker testing, as well as imaging and biospecimen collection. Using these outcome measures, researchers will analyze the relationships between cognitive measures and biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease (AD) to identify endpoints for AD clinical trials in DS that best reflect disease progression. To learn more about the study and participating sites, visit our study website at: https://www.trcds.org/. TRC-DS is collaborating with the Alzheimer's Disease Biomarker Consortium-Down Syndrome (ABC-DS) to allow study participants to be concurrently enrolled in both ABC-DS and TRC-DS, referred to as "co-enrollment". ABC-DS is a longitudinal, observational research study that is overseen at University of Pittsburgh Coordinating Center. ABC-DS participants who express interest in potentially joining a clinical trial in the future and who meet TRC-DS eligibility criteria, may choose to co-enroll in TRC-DS at an ABC-DS Site. Co-enrolled participants will adhere to the ABC-DS protocol and schedule of activities, but agree to share their data with the TRC-DS team and to receive invitations for future participation in clinical trials. Fore more information on ABC-DS please visit https://www.nia.nih.gov/research/abc-ds or http://abcds.pitt.edu/. Read Less

This research will assess the effect of companion robotic pets on the wellbeing of older adults and their family caregivers. Read Less

To assess the safety, tolerability, biomarker, cognitive, and clinical efficacy of investigational products in participants with an Alzheimer's disease-causing mutation by determining if treatment with the study drug improves disease-related biomarkers and slows the rate of progression of cognitive or clinical impairment. Read Less

PREVENTABLE is a multi-center, randomized, parallel group, placebo-controlled superiority study. Participants will be randomized 1:1 to atorvastatin 40 mg or placebo. This large study conducted in community-dwelling older adults without cardiovascular disease (CVD) or dementia will demonstrate the benefit of statins for reducing the primary composite of death, dementia, and persistent disability and secondary composites including mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and cardiovascular events. Read Less

The Self-care for Dementia Caregivers Study is a behavioral health intervention that uses digital monitoring tools and motivational health coaching to help caregivers of persons with dementia engage in a regular routine of self-care. Participants wear an apple watch for the objective collection of sleep-wake rhythms. They receive personalized feedback on their sleep-wake rhythms via a new app. Health coaches call participants weekly, for 6 weeks to help participants meet their health/sleep goals and promote self-knowledge of regular routines. Participants will help the study team improve the design elements and content of the mobile app. The goal of this intervention is to reduce psychological distress and caregiver burden. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to assess the safety, tolerability, biomarker, cognitive and clinical efficacy of investigational products in participants with an Alzheimer's disease-causing mutation by determining if treatment with the study drug slows the rate of progression of cognitive/clinical impairment or improves disease-related biomarkers. Read Less

This home-based study is a randomized (1:1) placebo-controlled trial of a single infusion of zoledronic acid-5 mg (ZA) for the prevention of fractures in men and women aged 60 years and older with Parkinson's disease and parkinsonism with at least 2 years of follow-up. A total of 3500 participants will be enrolled and randomized in the United States. Participants, follow-up outcome assessors, and study investigators will be blinded to assigned study treatment. This trial is funded by the National Institute of Aging. Read Less