View clinical trials related to Dementia.
Filter by:The treatment of Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia (BPSD) continue to raise difficult problems. Both the pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic therapies often fail to achieve the expected results. The aim of this study is to assess the short- and long-term efficacy of an intervention, the Special Care Unit for patients with BPSD (SCU-B), already implemented in some countries but not validated so far, as well as its cost-effectiveness
Muscle relaxation has been reported to be effective in alleviating anxiety and agitation symptoms in patients with dementia, but no studies have examined the effects of muscle relaxation therapy on cognitive function changes. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to compare and validate the improvement of cognitive function in patients with mild cognitive impairment and early alzheimer's dementia aged 50 to 85 years after performing muscle relaxation machine massage regularly.
Within the spectrum of fronto-temporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) semantic dementia (SD) causes profound language dysfunction. SD damages semantic processing typically in the temporal poles (anterior temporal lobes, ATL). It is an early onset disease (often before 65 years of age) affecting about 4000 patients in France and for which no validated treatment is available. For several years a growing number of studies have explored the effects of transcranial stimulation (TCS) on aphasic patients following stroke. Several studies have targeted left-sided language areas and/or homotopical right-sided regions with excitatory or inhibitory TCS, respectively, according to the principle of inter-hemispheric inhibition. In addition, repetitive multi-day TCS has provided evidence for long-lasting language effects (>6 months) presumably linked to stimulation-induced neuroplasticity. Such investigations have provided promising results and have demonstrated that the stimulation site is a determining factor by showing that stimulation of cortical areas belonging to the language network usually results in more convincing effects than stimulating areas outside that network. Despite these findings the use of TCS in degenerative language diseases, such as primary progressive aphasias including SD, has only been explored in few small cohort studies and, surprisingly, they have not targeted language-related cortices. This project proposes the application of multi-day repetitive TCS with direct current (tDCS) in a large population of SD patients (N=60). It is built on a exploratory investigation of our team which has used three single tDCS sessions in a double-blind sham-controlled study. Excitatory and inhibitory tDCS to the left and right temporal pole, respectively, demonstrated highly significant transient effects (20 min) on semantic processing in 12 SD patients, providing 'proof of concept' and the rationale for this project. The aim here consists of using repetitive multi-day tDCS for a potential therapeutic outcome leading to long-lasting semantic improvement via neuroplasticity. The project is grounded on 2 hypotheses: i) tDCS to temporal poles (left-excitatory, right-inhibitory) reactivates semantic processing in SD, ii) repetitive tDCS during ten days could induce neuroplasticity and therapeutic language improvement.
In this observational study, the investigators aim to evaluate whether changes in the retinal and choroidal circulation, as assessed by Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and the quantification of retinal amyloid deposits using auto-fluorescence and hyperspectral retinal imaging, are correlated with the degree and subtype of dementia and with the presence or absence of a positive amyloid scan. For this purpose, patients with established Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and Lewy Body Dementia (LBD), as well as amyloid positive and amyloid negative Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and aged matched cognitively intact patients will be included in this cross-sectional study.
Because of a shared ontogenic origin, the retina displays similarities to the brain and spinal cord in terms of anatomy, functionality, response to insult, and immunology. Hence, the retina can be approached as an integral part of the central nervous system. The occurence of ocular manifestations in several neurodegenerative pathologies, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, accentuates the strong relationship between eye and brain. Particularly retinal changes can present a substrate for cerebral changes in these disorders. Offering a 'window to the brain', the transparent eye enables non-invasive imaging of these changes in retinal structure and vasculature. In this project, the potential of retinal biomarkers for e.g. Alzheimer's will be explored with the aim to overcome some of the hurdles in the current management of these pathologies, mainly the lack of techniques for patient screening and early diagnosis. The aim of this clinical trial is to correlate the retinal biomarkers for Alzheimer's with neuro-imaging, and cognitive function. Integrating the results will yield non-invasive retinal biomarkers for clinical research, screening, and follow-up of disease progression in various neurodegenerative disorders.
The research question for this study is whether golf is a suitable physical activity for people with dementia (PWD). It follows a qualitative pilot study in Lincoln where PWD enjoyed the activity and caregivers appreciated the service. Golf combines many desirable elements in a physical activity programme that include being outdoors, social, cognitively challenging, no reaction-time component, and being a typical everyday activity. The length of time that golf sessions last could also offer a potential respite from care for caregivers. Participants will be people with dementia and their caregivers. Eligibility criteria will include having been clinically diagnosed with dementia, being able to stand on one leg for at least six seconds to ensure participants are able to balance sufficiently well to be able to play golf. The study will be undertaken at The London Shire Golf Club, with the golf training provided by the Golf Trust, which is a charitable foundation experienced in providing golf training to people with a range of different disabilities. The randomised controlled trial study will last 16 weeks, with a partial crossover design. The experimental group with have two eight-week periods of golf while the control group will have eight weeks without golf, then the golf intervention. There will be two 150-min sessions each week, starting with 30 minutes socialising, then 90 minutes playing golf, then 30 minutes socialising. The golf sessions will progress from putting, to chipping, and then a full swing, with sessions taking place on a nine-hole golf course. Participants will be evaluated before and after each eight-week period for physical function, physical activity level, cognitive function, and quality of life. Their caregivers will also provide information related to the PWD in terms of quality of life and psychopathology in dementia, as well as their own quality of life.
This is a randomized, double blinded, placebo-controlled Phase II study to investigate the efficacy and safety of ceftriaxone in patients with mild to moderate Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD).This study will enroll approximately 106 patients to have up to 84 evaluable subjects, and conduct in Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, National Taiwan University Hospital, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, China Medical University Hospital, Changhua Christian Hospital, and Taipei Veterans General Hospital.
This is a 5-year observational study recruiting sixteen hundred and fifty individuals between the ages of 50 and 90 with different types of dementia as well as a comparison group of six hundred and fifty aged matched individuals without cognitive deficits. Participants will be recruited at sites across Canada and will undergo assessments and provide biological samples at baseline and two years after baseline.
Dementia affects 10% of the elderly population in Singapore. However, there is a lack of systematic information regarding end of life (EOL) care received by patients dying with severe dementia (PDSD), PDSD's EOL direct and indirect costs and caregiver burden. This study, a first of-its-kind prospective cohort study in Singapore will assess the EOL care received by PDSD and PDSD's caregivers, EOL medical and social care costs of severe dementia and caregiver burden; and will develop a risk score to predict 6-month mortality for PDSD. The investigators will accomplish this by surveying caregivers of PDSD every 4 months till the patient passes away and 6 weeks and 6 months after patient's death during caregiver bereavement. The investigators will also extract and match patient medical and billing data with survey data for comprehensive assessment of care costs. Key outcomes achieved by this study will be improved understanding of PDSD's EOL care, EOL care costs, and caregiver burden and bereavement. The systematic data collected will also lead to predicting 6 month mortality for community dwelling PDSD with greater accuracy compared to existing tools. Positive implications from this study will be improved early decision making by caregivers regarding EOL care and physician referrals for palliative care services; and a better understanding of EOL care for PDSD and PDSD's caregivers that will lead to cross-sector collaborations to improve delivery of palliative care to PDSD. In this way this proposal is highly responsive to the grant call which focuses on early decision making and cross sector palliative care delivery among non-cancer patients. In the long term, this study will improve clinical and public health policy and has the potential to be the foundation for future initiatives for dementia care and improved social and medical infrastructure planning.
This multicentre randomized control trial aims to evaluate the effects of an intervention consisting of an health application developed to improve the quality of life (QoL) in older people with mild dementia and their informal caregivers. The study is a collaboration between five European countries where the clinical trials will be conducted in four of these countries (Sweden, Belgium, Spain and Czech Republic). In total 1200 dyads (consisting of a person with mild dementia (PWD) and their informal caregiver (carer) will be recruited for this study. Participant dyads will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio in two parallel groups: PWD to receive either usual care from primary or specialized providers (control group) or to receive usual care plus access to a tablet with the SMART4MD health application (intervention group). Participants in the trial will be assessed for a period of 18 months. After the baseline visit, all participants will have follow-up visits every 6 months together with a checkup of the PWDs capacity to remain in the study. In the follow up visits, investigators will assess the PWD's quality of life, their cognitive and functional status, adherence to prescribed medication and attendance at healthcare appointments and admissions to healthcare services institutions. Investigators will also assess the burden of the informal caregivers.