EARLY-COGN^3 - Smart Digital Solutions for EARLY Treatment of COGnitive Disability: a Neuropsychological, Neurophysiological and Neurobiological Perspective in Chronic Neurological Diseases - PNRR-MCNT2-2023-12377069

Status: Recruiting
Location: See all (3) locations...
Intervention Type: Device, Behavioral
Study Type: Interventional
Study Phase: Not Applicable
SUMMARY

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.

Eligibility
Participation Requirements
Sex: All
Minimum Age: 18
Maximum Age: 85
Healthy Volunteers: f
View:

• 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

Locations
Other Locations
Italy
IRCCS Istituto Centro San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli
RECRUITING
Brescia
IRCCS Centro Neurolesi Bonino Pulejo
RECRUITING
Messina
Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi - ONLUS, Milan
RECRUITING
Milan
Contact Information
Primary
Maria Cotelli, PhD
mcotelli@fatebenefratelli.eu
+390303501457
Backup
Rosa Manenti, PhD
rmanenti@fatebenefratelli.eu
+390303501457
Time Frame
Start Date: 2024-12-09
Estimated Completion Date: 2026-08-30
Participants
Target number of participants: 60
Treatments
Experimental: 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.
Active_comparator: 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).
Sponsors
Collaborators: European Union - NextGenerationEU - PNRR M6C2 - Mission M6 - Component C2 - Investment 2.1 - Valorizzazione e potenziamento della ricerca biomedica del SSN, IRCCS Centro Neurolesi Bonino Pulejo, Messina, National Research Council (CNR) - Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation (IRIB), Messina, IRCCS Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi, Milano
Leads: IRCCS Centro San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli

This content was sourced from clinicaltrials.gov