Postoperative Cognitive Training to Prevent Delirium

NCT ID: NCT06601673

Last Updated: 2025-02-21

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

108 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2014-05-31

Study Completion Date

2018-10-31

Brief Summary

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The aim of this clinical trial is to test whether daily postoperative cognitive training can prevent delirium in older patients after major surgery.

The main questions to be answered is:

Can daily cognitive training reduce the rate of postoperative delirium in older patients after surgery?

Participants will be visited daily for the first 5 days after surgery and asked to take part in a tablet-based cognitive training programme for 2 hours a day (in 2 sessions).

The researchers will compare patients who receive the training with a control group of patients who listen to audio books for the same amount of time and a control group who receive standard care (no intervention).

Detailed Description

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The most common postoperative complication in aged patients is postoperative delirium (POD), which often progresses to permanent postoperative neurocognitive disorder (pNCD). POD and pNCD are associated with significantly increased postoperative morbidity and mortality. Prevention of POD is therefore a primary therapeutic goal in the care of elderly patients. The aim of this project is to investigate the effect of cognitive stimulation on the occurrence of POD in older patients at risk after surgery.

Patients undergoing surgery who are at least 70 years old and have an increased risk of postoperative delirium will be included. The increased risk will be assessed in a preoperative assessment as part of the anaesthetic premedication consultation. It is defined as the presence of frailty (Clinical Frailty Scale, CFS and Longitudinal Urban Cohort Study Age Function Index, LUCAS-FI), cognitive impairment (Montreal Cognition Assessment Test, MoCA) or increased morbidity (Hall Risk Analysis Index). The intervention takes the form of computer-based cognitive training in the areas of attention, processing speed, memory, emotional intelligence, reasoning and orientation. Positive effects of this training have already been shown in the treatment of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), dementia and tumour-related cognitive impairment.

The training takes place under supervision for 120 minutes a day from the first to the fifth postoperative day. It is hypothesised that postoperative cognitive training can reduce the incidence of delirium in the first five days after surgery. Secondary endpoints are the reduction of neurocognitive dysfunction at one week, six weeks and six months after surgery, maintenance of function and quality of life at six months.

In order to adjust for the stimulating effects of interacting with study staff during the study visits, a control group listening to an audio book (also brought and set up by study staff) is included in the trial.

Conditions

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Postoperative Delirium

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

prospective, randomized-controlled trial
Primary Study Purpose

PREVENTION

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

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Intervention

Tablet-based bed-side cognitive training for 2h per day for the first five days after surgery (or until discharge from hospital, if earlier).

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Cognitive training

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

The intervention consists of computer-based cognitive training in the areas of attention, processing speed, memory, emotional intelligence, reasoning and orientation. The training takes place under supervision for 120 minutes a day from the first to the fifth postoperative day.

Audio book

Listening to an audio book for 2h per day for the first five days after surgery (or until discharge from hospital, if earlier).

Group Type SHAM_COMPARATOR

Listen to audio book

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Here, an audio book is listened to for 2h daily for the first five postoperative days (or until discharge from hospital if earlier). The audio book is brought and set up by study staff.

Standard care

Standard care without any intervention.

Group Type NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

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Cognitive training

The intervention consists of computer-based cognitive training in the areas of attention, processing speed, memory, emotional intelligence, reasoning and orientation. The training takes place under supervision for 120 minutes a day from the first to the fifth postoperative day.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Listen to audio book

Here, an audio book is listened to for 2h daily for the first five postoperative days (or until discharge from hospital if earlier). The audio book is brought and set up by study staff.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Other Intervention Names

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cognitive stimulation

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Patients aged 70 years or older,
* planned surgery (abdominal surgery: general surgery, urology or gynaecology; spinal surgery, vascular medicine, cardiothoracic surgery, major trauma surgery),
* increased perioperative risk (frailty, cognitive impairment, multimorbidity).

Exclusion Criteria

* Unable to give consent,
* severe cognitive disorder or mental retardation (if training cannot be carried out)
* Insufficient knowledge of German
Minimum Eligible Age

70 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Other Identifiers

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2024-101267-BO-ff

Identifier Type: OTHER

Identifier Source: secondary_id

S6-2024

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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