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Augmenting cognitive training in older adults (The ACT Study): Design and Methods of a Phase III tDCS and cognitive training trial
Woods AJ, Cohen R, Marsiske M, Alexander GE, Czaja SJ, Wu S.. Contemporary clinical trials, 2017-12-05
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Background Adults over age 65 represent the fastest growing population in the US. Decline in cognitive abilities is a hallmark of advanced age and is associated with loss of independence and dementia risk. There is a pressing need to develop effective interventions for slowing or reversing the cognitive aging process. While certain forms of cognitive training have shown promise in this area, effects only sometimes transfer to neuropsychological tests within or outside the trained domain. This paper describes a NIA-funded Phase III adaptive multisite randomized clinical trial, examining whether transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of frontal cortices enhances neurocognitive outcomes achieved from cognitive training in older adults experiencing age-related cognitive decline: the Augmenting Cognitive Training in Older Adults study (ACT). Methods ACT will enroll 360 participants aged 65 to 89 with age-related cognitive decline, but not dementia. Participants will undergo cognitive training intervention or education training-control combined with tDCS or sham tDCS control. Cognitive training employs a suite of eight adaptive training tasks focused on attention/speed of processing and working memory from Posit Science BrainHQ. Training control involves exposure to educational nature/history videos and related content questions of the same interval/duration as the cognitive training. Participants are assessed at baseline, after training (12weeks), and 12-month follow-up on our primary outcome measure, NIH Toolbox Fluid Cognition Composite Score, as well as a comprehensive neurocognitive, functional, clinical and multimodal neuroimaging battery. Significance The findings from this study have the potential to significantly enhance efforts to ameliorate cognitive aging and slow dementia.
Key findings
- Decline in cognitive abilities is a hallmark of advanced age and is associated with loss of independence and dementia risk.
- Significance The findings from this study have the potential to significantly enhance efforts to ameliorate cognitive aging and slow dementia.
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Study details
- Participants360
- Evidence strengthHigh
How this study scored 53/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multi-centre collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 31 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 53 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Contemporary clinical trials) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 5 / 5 | Rated “high” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 2 / 5 | 2018 — within 10 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 2 / 4 | 360 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 29313802) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 31 / 58 | Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 31 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 53 out of 100. |
| Total | 53 / 100 | — |
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APA 7th
Woods, A. J., Cohen, R., Marsiske, M., Alexander, G. E., Czaja, S. J., & Wu, S. (2018). Augmenting cognitive training in older adults (The ACT Study): Design and Methods of a Phase III tDCS and cognitive training trial. Contemporary clinical trials. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cct.2017.11.017
Vancouver
Woods AJ, Cohen R, Marsiske M, Alexander GE, Czaja SJ, Wu S. Augmenting cognitive training in older adults (The ACT Study): Design and Methods of a Phase III tDCS and cognitive training trial. Contemporary clinical trials. 2018. doi:10.1016/j.cct.2017.11.017. PMID: 29313802.
BibTeX
@article{woods2018-29313802,
author = {Woods, A. J. and Cohen, R. and Marsiske, M. and Alexander, G. E. and Czaja, S. J. and Wu, S.},
title = {{Augmenting cognitive training in older adults (The ACT Study): Design and Methods of a Phase III tDCS and cognitive training trial}},
journal = {Contemporary clinical trials},
year = {2018},
doi = {10.1016/j.cct.2017.11.017},
pmid = {29313802},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cct.2017.11.017}
}