Locomotion Adaptation Deficits in Older Adults With Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimers Disease

Launched by EMORY UNIVERSITY · Jun 26, 2024

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial is looking at how Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's Disease (AD) affect a person's ability to adapt their walking to different situations. Researchers believe that understanding these changes in walking could help identify problems with thinking and movement, and they hope that exercise can improve walking abilities in these individuals. The study aims to learn more about the relationship between these cognitive issues and walking function.

To participate in the trial, individuals must be diagnosed with MCI or Alzheimer's by a certified neurologist. They should be able to walk at least 10 feet without any assistance and have completed at least six grades of education. Some other criteria include having specific memory and cognitive test scores. Participants will not be able to join if they have certain medical conditions or take medications that might interfere with the study. This trial is currently not recruiting participants, but it’s an important step toward finding better ways to help those with MCI and Alzheimer's improve their walking ability through targeted exercises.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• * AD and MCI will be defined through formal diagnosis provided by a board-certified Neurologist. Amnestic MCI will be defined using the AD Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) criteria. All MCI participants in ADNI are required to have an amnestic subtype defined as:
• • Subjective memory concern or a memory problem noted by their partner
• • Abnormal memory function documented by a specified education adjusted cutoff score on the delayed paragraph recall of the Anna Thompson story of the Logical Memory subtest from the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised
• • Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) score between 20 and 26 (inclusive). Exceptions may be made for subjects with less than 8 years of education at the discretion of the PI. (iv) Single or multi-domain amnestic MCI (both subtypes are at high risk for progression to AD)
• • Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) = 0.5 (Memory Box score must be at least 0.5)
• • General functional performance sufficiently preserved
• • Evidence of impaired executive function based on Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score 13-17
• • Able to walk 10 or more feet without an assistive device
• • Completed six grades of education or has a good work history (sufficient to exclude intellectual disabilities)
• • Not hospitalized within the last 60 days
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • Acute medical illness requiring hospitalization
• • Uncontrolled congestive heart failure
• • History of stroke
• • Inability to perform study procedures
• • Medical or physical conditions that would preclude participation or walking (e.g., severe arthritis or mobility problems, uncontrolled hypertension or diabetes, renal failure, history of angina with activity)
• • On medications that could adversely affect cognition, eg: antipsychotics, opioids, stimulants, chemotherapy, anti-parkinsonian drugs (eg Levodopa), neurologic prescriptions to treat Multiple sclerosis and/or Parkinson's
• • Psychotic disorders
• • Confounding neurologic conditions (e.g., active central nervous system (CNS) opportunistic infections, seizure disorders, head injury with loss of consciousness \>30 minutes, intracranial neoplasms, stroke with neurological or neuropsychiatric sequelae)
• • Substance Use Disorder, Major Depressive and Generalized Anxiety Disorders within six months of evaluation