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DepressionNCT00029588

Reward-Related Processes and Brain Function

An observational study of Depression, run by National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) at 2 sites in United States.

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
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Trial summary

This study will examine and compare brain changes during decision-making in healthy adolescents and adolescents who are anxious or depressed. The findings may provide a better understanding of mechanisms that lead to depression or anxiety. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 9 to 40 years
Conditions the study is for
Depression
How many people
241 participants
Where
2 sitesUnited States
Study dates
11 Jan 2002to 24 Jul 2017
Phase
Observational
Are there results?
None posted in the registry

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 9 to 40 years
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Child, Adult

Who may be able to join

  • Age: Subjects will be males and females, 9-17 and 20-40 years of age.
  • Psychiatric history: Subjects in Group 3, and 4 will be diagnosed with current MD, and current AD (generalized anxiety disorder, social phobia, or/and separation anxiety disorder) respectively, based on k-SADS interviews of parents and adolescents for minors (<18 years old), and SCID for adults. History of anxiety disorders in individuals with MD is acceptable, if current symptoms are mild or absent (see exclusion criteria). Similarly, history of depression in individuals with AD is acceptable, if current symptoms are mild or absent (see exclusion criteria). AD and MD patients should have a CGAS< 70.
  • Medication status: No history of medication treatment or use of an SSRI > one month prior to entering the study and fluoxetine > six months prior to entering the study.

Who cannot join

  • Because factors such as psychiatric disease, or CNS disease, can influence functional brain activity, and pregnancy precludes participation in fMRI studies, these factors are exclusionary.
  • Psychiatric disease: Any current history of an axis I diagnosis other than adjustment disorder, simple phobia, Social Phobia, Separation Anxiety, dysthymia, GAD and MD is exclusionary. Subjects will be assessed using DSM-IV criteria via standardized psychiatric interviews conducted by trained examiners (K-SADS in minors and SCID in adults). Any current suicidal ideation, and severe ADHD requiring pharmacotherapy will be exclusionary.
  • History of Drug Abuse: Axis I diagnoses of substance use disorders will be exclusionary.
  • Severe acute and chronic medical illnesses
  • CNS disease: History of brain abnormalities (e.g., neoplasms, subarachnoid cysts), cerebrovascular disease, infectious disease (e.g., abscess), or other neurological disease, or history of head trauma (defined as loss of consciousness > 3 min).
  • IQ lower than 70.
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  • Metal or electronic objects: Metal plates, certain types of dental braces, cardiac pacemakers, etc., that are sensitive to electromagnetic fields contraindicate MRI scans.
  • Claustrophobia: Subjects will be questioned about potential discomfort in being in an enclosed space, such as an MRI scanner.
  • Pregnancy status: Because of the potential effects of hormonal changes on brain function as well as the unknown effects of electromagnetic field on the fetus, pregnancy is an exclusion criterion. Sexually mature female participants must have a negative urine pregnancy test performed within 24 hours of the fMRI scan.

Trial locations and contacts

2 sites in 1 country.

United States2 sites

  • National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, 9000 Rockville Pike

    Bethesda, Maryland, 20892

  • Childrens National Medical Center

    Washington D.C., District of Columbia

Other trials in United States

About this study

This study will examine and compare brain changes during decision-making in healthy adolescents and adolescents who are anxious or depressed. The findings may provide a better understanding of mechanisms that lead to depression or anxiety.

Adolescents between 9 and 17 years of age and adults between 20 and 40 years of age in the following categories will be enrolled in this study:

Read more
  • Healthy adults
  • Healthy adolescents
  • Adolescents with major depression
  • Adolescents with anxiety disorder (generalized anxiety disorder, social phobia, or/and separation anxiety disorder)

The study involves three visits, as follows:

Visit 1

Visit 1 consists of three parts for both child and adult participants:

  • Part 1: Staff will meet with participants for a standard psychiatric interview, which will include questions about the participants feelings, experiences and behavior both past and present. For adolescent participants, staff will meet with the child alone, the parent alone, and the child and parent together.
  • Part 2: Participants will perform a series of simple tasks involving shapes, letters, and numbers. They will have a medical history, physical examination and blood draw. In addition, adolescents will have a urine drug test.
  • Part 3: Adults and those adolescents who will undergo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in Visit 3 will receive training to familiarize them with the procedure.

Visit 2

  • Adolescents will again be asked standardized questions regarding their feelings, experiences and behavior, and will then perform a series of simple decision-making tasks on a computer.
  • Adults will undergo MRI scanning, as described below in Visit 3 for adolescents. This concludes the participation of adults in the study.

Visit 3

Adolescents will have one of the following two procedures:

  • Decision-making task using a computer. Small electrodes will be placed on the child s wrists, face and fingers to monitor muscle tone and skin humidity during the task.

Or

  • MRI, a test that uses a strong magnetic field and radio waves to show changes in brain function. During the scan, the participant lies on a table in a space enclosed by a metal cylinder (the MRI scanner). The procedure takes 60-90 minutes; subjects must lie still for 10-15 minutes at a time. During imaging, the subject will be asked to perform a decision-making task on a computer.
Read the detailed description

Impaired motivated behaviors, including aspects of decision-making and reward-related processes, lie at the root of maladaptive behavior in many psychiatric disorders, including major depression (MD). Little is known of the cognitive and neural mechanisms that underlie MD in adolescents. Adolescence is a key period during which many psychiatric disorders first emerge, and studies during this developmental stage may provide a unique window to address primary deficits associated with the disorders. In particular, major depression shows a marked increase in prevalence at adolescence. Data from family-based and longitudinal studies suggest that anxiety disorders (AD), often preceding MD, may index childhood vulnerabilities for the development of MD. The concomitant examination of MD and AD can help interpret these findings. We propose to examine, in adolescents, the manner in which the various elemental emotional-cognitive processes are differentially affected in MD and AD compared to healthy controls. This investigation will be done in two phases. In Phase I, using fMRI, we will test two tasks in the decision-making model of gambling that have similarly been tested in adults in a group of healthy adolescents and healthy adults. This phase will serve as a test of the feasibility and validity of using these tasks in adolescents, and will provide normative developmental data by comparing healthy adults with healthy adolescents. In addition to showing the feasibility of using these tasks in normal adolescents, we will also test task performance behaviorally in healthy, anxious and depressed adolescents. Measures will include psychophysiological and eye tracking measures, and behavioral variables. Once task performance is well characterized behaviorally, we will conduct in Phase II an fMRI study in independent groups of depressed and anxious adolescents and compare the findings with those obtained in healthy adolescents.

Conditions
Depression
Keywords
fMRI, Adolescents and Adults, Depression, Anxiety, Anxiety Disorder, GAD, Adolescents, Healthy Volunteer, HV, Normal Control
Medical subject headings
Depression, Anxiety Disorders

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted16 Jan 2002 (estimated)
  2. Study start11 Jan 2002
  3. Study completion24 Jul 2017

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Observational
Observational model
Cohort
Time perspective
Cross-sectional
Enrolment
241 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT00029588
Sponsor's protocol ID
020092
Other IDs
02-M-0092
Status last verified
24 Jul 2017
First submitted
15 Jan 2002
Last updated
6 Oct 2017
Results posted
No

Publications

  • Rogers RD, Owen AM, Middleton HC, Williams EJ, Pickard JD, Sahakian BJ, Robbins TW. Choosing between small, likely rewards and large, unlikely rewards activates inferior and orbital prefrontal cortex. J Neurosci. 1999 Oct 15;19(20):9029-38. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.19-20-09029.1999.

    PubMed 10516320

  • Murphy FC, Sahakian BJ, Rubinsztein JS, Michael A, Rogers RD, Robbins TW, Paykel ES. Emotional bias and inhibitory control processes in mania and depression. Psychol Med. 1999 Nov;29(6):1307-21. doi: 10.1017/s0033291799001233.

    PubMed 10616937

  • Elliott R, Sahakian BJ, McKay AP, Herrod JJ, Robbins TW, Paykel ES. Neuropsychological impairments in unipolar depression: the influence of perceived failure on subsequent performance. Psychol Med. 1996 Sep;26(5):975-89. doi: 10.1017/s0033291700035303.

    PubMed 8878330

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

An observational study of Depression, run by National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) at 2 sites in United States.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 3 inclusion and 9 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 6 Oct 2017. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 2 sites in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT00029588, which also lists 3 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 6 Oct 2017.

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Reward-Related Processes and Brain Function | AzTrials