Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation as a Strategy for the Management of Disorders Generated by COVID-19: a Multicentric Study.
Status: Recruiting
Location: See all (2) locations...
Intervention Type: Behavioral, Device
Study Type: Interventional
Study Phase: Phase 2
SUMMARY
Different physical and mental morbidities such as pain, fatigue, depressed mood and cognitive impairment can be triggered by coronavirus infection. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), an easy-to-apply, non-pharmacological and safe technique, has been used to attenuate these symptoms caused by other diseases, and, therefore, it is expected that it can also attenuate them when generated by COVID-19. It is known that the persistent inflammatory state observed after COVID-19 would be related to the progression of these negative symptoms. As non-invasive brain stimulation can also attenuate acute and persistent inflammation, it can be estimated that tDCS can be a useful tool to recover immune function and reduce post-COVID-19 morbidity.
Eligibility
Participation Requirements
Sex: All
Minimum Age: 18
Healthy Volunteers: f
View:
• Long COVID-19 (\>3 months)
• The presence of at least one of the following symptoms, after diagnosed SARS-COV-2 infection:
⁃ Persistent pain Fatigue Depressed mood Cognitive impairment
Locations
Other Locations
Brazil
Department of Physical Education, Faculty of Science and Technology
NOT_YET_RECRUITING
Presidente Prudente
Applied Neuroscience Laboratory-LANA
RECRUITING
Recife
Contact Information
Primary
Kátia Monte-Silva, PhD
monte.silvakk@gmail.com
+55 81 988631322
Backup
Patrícia Lopes, graduation
patricia.flima@ufpe.br
+55 81 999897661
Time Frame
Start Date: 2023-08-25
Estimated Completion Date: 2024-09-28
Participants
Target number of participants: 48
Treatments
Experimental: Pain/fatigue tDCS real
tDCS will be applied for 30 minutes (2 mA; 0.057 mA/cm²) during motor training. The anode will be positioned in the area referring to the left motor cortex (C3). The cathode will be positioned in the contralateral supraorbital region.~Motor Training: the participant will be positioned on the mat where the initial 5 minutes will be warmed up with the target heart rate maintained at 50-60% of the maximum heart rate. The treadmill speed must be adjusted to keep the HR within the pre-established target range. At 5 minutes, Borg scale values, treadmill speed and HR should be recorded. The central 20 minutes will be considered the main part. For this, the target HR must be maintained between 64-76% of the maximum HR. Every 5 minutes (minutes 10, 15, 20 and 25) the values of the Borg scale, treadmill speed and HR must be recorded. In the final 5 minutes, the target HR must be kept below 60% of the maximum HR. Totaling 30 minutes of training on the treadmill.
Sham_comparator: Pain/fatigue tDCS sham
tDCS will be applied for 30 seconds (2 mA; 0.057 mA/cm²) during motor training. The anode will be positioned in the area referring to the left motor cortex (C3). The cathode will be positioned in the contralateral supraorbital region.~Motor Training: the participant will be positioned on the mat where the initial 5 minutes will be warmed up with the target heart rate maintained at 50-60% of the maximum heart rate. The treadmill speed must be adjusted to keep the HR within the pre-established target range. At 5 minutes, Borg scale values, treadmill speed and HR should be recorded. The central 20 minutes will be considered the main part. For this, the target HR must be maintained between 64-76% of the maximum HR. Every 5 minutes (minutes 10, 15, 20 and 25) the values of the Borg scale, treadmill speed and HR must be recorded. In the final 5 minutes, the target HR must be kept below 60% of the maximum HR. Totaling 30 minutes of training on the treadmill.
Experimental: Cognitive deficit and depressed mood tDCS real
tDCS will be applied for 30 minutes (2 mA; 0.057 mA/cm²) during cognitive training. For volunteers with symptoms of depressed mood and/or cognitive impairment, the anode will be positioned in the area of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (F3) and cognitive training will be performed. The cathode will be positioned in the contralateral supraorbital region.~Cognitive Training: For cognitive training, performed during tDCS, a n-Back task will be performed online in the PsyToolkit (https://www.psytoolkit.org/). A previous study demonstrated the benefit of tDCS when combined with this cognitive training on working memory learning curves.
Sham_comparator: Cognitive deficit and depressed mood tDCS sham
tDCS will be applied for 30 seconds (2 mA; 0.057 mA/cm²) during cognitive training. For volunteers with symptoms of depressed mood and/or cognitive impairment, the anode will be positioned in the area of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (F3) and cognitive training will be performed. The cathode will be positioned in the contralateral supraorbital region.~Cognitive Training: For cognitive training, performed during tDCS, a n-Back task will be performed online in the PsyToolkit (https://www.psytoolkit.org/). A previous study demonstrated the benefit of tDCS when combined with this cognitive training on working memory learning curves.
Related Therapeutic Areas
Sponsors
Collaborators: São Paulo State University
Leads: Universidade Federal de Pernambuco