EARLY-COGN^3 - Smart Digital Solutions for EARLY Treatment of COGnitive Disability: a Neuropsychological, Neurophysiological and Neurobiological Perspective in Chronic Neurological Diseases

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

RECRUITING

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

60 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2024-12-09

Study Completion Date

2026-08-30

Brief Summary

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The increase in life expectancy in recent decades has led to a large number of people living into old age and an increased risk of developing Chronic Neurological Diseases (CNDs) such as neurodegenerative diseases. A higher cumulative risk of dementia has been largely demonstrated in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and Subjective Cognitive Complaints (SCCs) subjects and in Parkinson's Disease (PD) patients, as compared to the general population. These disorders result in an impairment of the individual's abilities to perform daily tasks. As their disease progresses, patients become dependent on medical services and on family support. Given the limited effectiveness of pharmacological treatments, non-pharmacological interventions to prevent and treat cognitive deficits and the associated difficulties with activities of daily living in neurodegenerative disease patients have gained attention in recent years and, among these, cognitive training offers a potential approach for dementia prevention and improvement of cognitive function. A critical aspect of cognitive training programs is that the most promising interventions have involved intensive in-person sessions that are unlikely to be cost-effective or feasible for large-scale implementation. Within the framework of non-pharmacological interventions, the use of technology to assist the person at risk and/or with mild dementia at home and to extend rehabilitation services in the treatment of dementia has gradually gained importance. Telerehabilitation technologies allow to provide services remotely in patients' homes, allowing access to health care to patients living in rural settings or with mobility difficulties. In addition, the telerehabilitation modality offers the advantage of providing rehabilitation within the natural environment of the patient's home, making the treatment more realistic and possibly more generalizable to the person's daily life. The present project proposes to test a home-based asynchronous cognitive telerehabilitation program aimed at enhancing the continuum of care for MCI, SCCs and PD, using technology. The proposed study is a single blind randomized controlled trial (RCT) involving subjects with CNDs randomly assigned to one out of two intervention groups: i) the tele@cognitive group, who will receive at-home cognitive telerehabilitation (tele@cognitive treatment); ii) the Active Control Group (ACG), who will receive at-home unstructured cognitive stimulation. The aim of the project will be threefold: \[1\] to test the short-term and long-term efficacy of tele@cognitive protocol as compared to an unstructured cognitive at-home rehabilitation in the treatment of a cohort of patients with CNDs; \[2\] to explore the changes induced by tele@cognitive intervention on biomolecular and neurophysiological markers; \[3\] to explore potential cognitive, neurobiological and neurophysiological predictors of response to tele@cognitive treatment.

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Detailed Description

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60 subjects with MCI, SCC, PD will be recruited from IRCCS Istituto Centro San Giovanni di Dio, Fatebenefratelli, Brescia, Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi - ONLUS, Milan and IRCCS Centro Neurolesi Bonino Pulejo, Messina.

Patients will include both male and female subjects affected by CND: PD (Hoehn \& Yahr\<3), MCI (with CDR scale≤0.5, MMSE ≥24) and SCC (Subjective Cognitive Complaints).

All patients will undergo treatment sessions of 45 minutes, 3 days a week for 5 weeks:

* 30 subjects will be assigned to the tele@cognitive group that will receive home-based cognitive telerehabilitation activities with an innovative digital solution for remote rehabilitation of cognitive difficulties according to the digital therapy delivery model;
* 30 subjects will be assigned to the Active Control Group (ACG) that will receive home-based unstructured cognitive stimulation.

The two groups will be matched for sex, age, education and performance in the MoCA test.

All study participants will be administered a multidimensional assessment by an experienced neuropsychologist at baseline (T0), at post-treatment assessment (T1, 5 weeks from T0) and at 3-month follow-up (T2). In addition, participation in the research involves blood sampling and application of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) before (T0) and after (T1) treatment.

Conditions

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Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) Subjective Cognitive Complaints (SCCs) Parkinson Disease

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Outcome Assessors

Study Groups

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tele@cognitive treatment

The tele@cognitive treatment group will receive a total of 5 weeks (3 sessions/week, 45 minutes/session) of home-based cognitive rehabilitation activities delivered through a digital telerehabilitation platform.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

RICORDO-DTx

Intervention Type DEVICE

Tele@cognitive treatment group will receive a total of 5 weeks (3 sessions/week, 45 minutes/session) of home-based cognitive rehabilitation activities with an innovative digital solution for remote rehabilitation of cognitive difficulties according to digital therapeutics delivery model. Subjects assigned to the tele@cognitive group can access the app RICORDO-DTx through a tablet showing the prescribed rehabilitation activities to be performed.

Each cognitive exercise is structured into five levels of difficulty that adaptively increase (algorithm on both subject's performance and perceived difficulty). All data about patient progress and adherence will be collected with this digital solution and will be available to evaluate and monitor the results of rehabilitation.

Active Control Group (ACG)

The Active Control Group (ACG), will receive at-home unstructured cognitive stimulation for 5 weeks (3 sessions/week, 45 minutes/session).

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Home-based unstructured cognitive stimulation

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Subjects assigned to the home-based unstructured cognitive stimulation will be requested to work on detailed activities for the same duration of the tele@cognitive intervention (3 sessions/week, 45 minutes/session). They will receive, from the therapist, an instructions booklet and a participant diary.

Interventions

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RICORDO-DTx

Tele@cognitive treatment group will receive a total of 5 weeks (3 sessions/week, 45 minutes/session) of home-based cognitive rehabilitation activities with an innovative digital solution for remote rehabilitation of cognitive difficulties according to digital therapeutics delivery model. Subjects assigned to the tele@cognitive group can access the app RICORDO-DTx through a tablet showing the prescribed rehabilitation activities to be performed.

Each cognitive exercise is structured into five levels of difficulty that adaptively increase (algorithm on both subject's performance and perceived difficulty). All data about patient progress and adherence will be collected with this digital solution and will be available to evaluate and monitor the results of rehabilitation.

Intervention Type DEVICE

Home-based unstructured cognitive stimulation

Subjects assigned to the home-based unstructured cognitive stimulation will be requested to work on detailed activities for the same duration of the tele@cognitive intervention (3 sessions/week, 45 minutes/session). They will receive, from the therapist, an instructions booklet and a participant diary.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Diagnosis of PD (Hoehn \& Yahr\<3); MCI (with CDR scale≤0.5, MMSE ≥24), and SCC (Subjective Cognitive Complaints);
* Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) corrected score ≥17.36
* Education ≥ 5 years
* Age eligible for the study: 18≤age≤85
* Native Italian speakers
* Absence of marked hearing/visual impairment
* All of the subjects will have normal or corrected-to-normal vision.
* Agreement to participate by signing the informed consent form
* Availability of a caregiver/study partner able to support the participant
* No rehabilitation program in place at the time of enrolment or in the last 3 months before enrolment
* Stable drug treatment (last 3 months), if any

Exclusion Criteria

* Presence of any medical or psychiatric illness that could interfere with completing assessments;
* Presence of any medical condition representing a contraindication to TMS.

Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

85 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No