Non-pharmacological Enhancement of Deep Sleep With Auditory Stimulation Versus Sham in People With Parkinson's Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment Receiving Cognitive Training: A Double-blind Randomized Trial (PD-CogT-Sleep)
People with Parkinson's disease are at higher risk of cognitive decline, and current treatments cannot fully prevent this. This study explores non-drug ways to support brain function. Intervention: Participants will complete a 5-week cognitive training program at home (brain fitness). In addition, they will use a sleep device at night that plays soft sounds to improve deep sleep; Half of the participants will actually receive these sounds (auditory stimulation), while the other half will receive a sham (placebo) version - neither the participants nor the researchers will know the group assignment. Assessments will take place before and after the intervention, and again three months later, including one overnight stay at University Hospital Zurich per assessment. The goal is to find out whether improving deep sleep can boost the benefits of cognitive training and help slow cognitive decline in Parkinson's disease.
• clinical diagnosis of PD along the MDS criteria (Postuma et al., 2015)
• MCI according to the MDS criteria, level I (Litvan et al., 2012):
• \- cognitive decline: Gradual decline, in the context of established PD, in cognitive ability reported by either the patient or informant, or observed by the clinician, AND
• \- MoCA ≤ 26 and ≥ 18 (Hoops et al., 2009)
• stable home situation (e.g. long-term place to live) that allows for reliable application of intervention for the duration of the study
• ability to apply the sleep intervention for the duration of study, either alone or with assistance of a co-habitant if needed
• ability to apply the CogT intervention for the duration of study
• sufficient German language comprehension to follow the study procedures and answer all questions related to the study outcomes
• dosing of dopaminergic and other PD treatment must have been stable for at least 14 days prior to the intervention period and will be expected to remain stable until the end of the study.