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Parkinson DiseaseNCT02600858

Exogenous Effects of Standard Medical Care (Dopamine) on Motor Learning of an Upper Limb Task in Parkinson Disease

A study testing Upper limb feeding training in people with Parkinson Disease, run by University of Utah at 1 site 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

The study determines whether standard medical care (dopamine) affects learning and retention of an upper limb feeding task in people with Parkinson's disease (PD) and whether training on the feeding task generalises to performance on an untrained upper limb buttoning task. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 50 to 80 years
Conditions the study is for
Parkinson Disease
What is being tested?
Upper limb feeding training
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
23 participants
Where
1 siteUnited States
Study dates
Jan 2016to Jan 2017
Phase
Interventional
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 50 to 80 years
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • Idiopathic Parkinson's disease confirmed by neurologist
  • Hoehn and Yahr stages 1 to 3
  • On a stable dose of antiparkinsonian medication for the past month and will continue on this regime for at least another subsequent month
  • Walks unaided

Who cannot join

  • Not taking dopamine replacement therapy
  • With prior surgical management for PD (e.g. deep brain stimulation)
  • With medication-resistant freezing of gait
  • Significant cognitive impairment (Montreal Cognitive Assessment score <18)
  • Unstable medical conditions
  • Other neurological conditions
  • Unable to follow instructions or safely complete the training tasks

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

United States1 site
  • University of Utah

    Salt Lake City, Utah, 84108

Other trials in United States

About this study

The study determines whether standard medical care (dopamine) affects learning and retention of an upper limb feeding task in people with Parkinson's disease (PD) and whether training on the feeding task generalises to performance on an untrained upper limb buttoning task. Half the participants will train on the feeding task after they have taken their first dose of dopamine for the day (i.e. "on" medication state), while the other half will train on the same feeding task before taking their first daily dose of dopamine (i.e. "off" medication state).

Read the detailed description

Parkinson disease (PD) is an age related neurodegenerative disorder with symptomatic declines in motor function due to a loss of dopaminergic neurons within the basal ganglia.

Ironically, treatment with exogenous dopamine-replacement medication (e.g. levodopa) may have positive effects on existing motor skills such as handwriting or walking, but may have detrimental effects on the learning of motor skills necessary for effective rehabilitation.

Although dopamine medications are routinely prescribed to replace lost dopamine in the sensorimotor areas of the striatum, they may actually be "overdosing" the associative striatum, a candidate neuroanatomical correlate for motor learning. To date, however, this 'overdose' hypothesis has not been widely tested, given that few studies of motor learning in PD have reported or controlled for whether individuals were tested "on" or "off" their dopamine replacement medication.

Being tested
Upper limb feeding training
Medical subject headings
Parkinson Disease

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • Upper limb feeding trainingBehavioural

    Participants will spoon two raw kidney beans at a time from a center proximal "start" cup to three distal "target" cups positioned 16 cm away at 45°, 90° and 135° around the start cup as fast as possible using their non-dominant hand. Spooning two beans between the start cup and a target cup is considered one repetition; each trial will consist of 15 repetitions. Participants will perform 50 trials per day for 3 consecutive days.

Study groups in NCT02600858
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
Training "off" medicationExperimentalParticipants will train on the upper limb feeding task before taking their first daily dose of standard dopamine medication for Parkinson's disease, i.e. while "off" dopamine replacement medication
Receives: Behavioral: Upper limb feeding training
Training "on" medicationOtherParticipants will train on the upper limb feeding task after taking their first daily dose of standard dopamine medication for Parkinson's disease, i.e. while "on" dopamine replacement medication
Receives: Behavioral: Upper limb feeding training

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Task performance (response time) at initial retention, adjusted for baseline (first trial of acquisition on Day 3)

    Measured: Day 8 (i.e. 48 hours after the last block of training)

Secondary outcomes (5)
  1. Immediate decrement (difference in response time between initial retention and the last trial of acquisition) in task performance, adjusted for baseline (first trial of acquisition)

    Measured: Day 5, Day 8 (i.e. 48 hours after the last block of training)

  2. Delayed decrement (difference in response time between delayed retention and the last trial of acquisition) in task performance, adjusted for baseline (first trial of acquisition)

    Measured: Day 5, Day 15 (i.e. 9 hours after the last block of training)

  3. Rate of improvement

    Rate of improvement (c) modelled on the exponential decay function: y = a + be(exp[-x/c]), where a is the final trial time value that the exponential decay function approaches (ie, asymptote), b is the scale of the learning from the first trial time to the value a, x is the trial number, 1/c is the number of trials needed to obtain asymptote (ie, 1 - e-1).

    Measured: Day 1 through Day 3

  4. Nine hole peg test score

    Time taken to complete the Nine Hole Peg Test at delayed retention, adjusted for baseline (Nine Hole Peg Test score at baseline, i.e. 3 days prior to the first block of training)

    Measured: Day 15 (i.e. 9 days after the last block of training)

  5. Buttoning task score

    Time taken to complete the Buttoning task at delayed retention, adjusted for baseline (Buttoning task score at baseline, i.e. 3 days prior to the first block of training)

    Measured: Day 15 (i.e. 9 days after the last block of training)

Timeline

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

  1. First posted9 Nov 2015 (estimated)
  2. Study startJan 2016
  3. Primary completionJan 2017
  4. Study completionJan 2017

Resources

More details

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

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase N/A
Primary purpose
Supportive care
Allocation
Randomised
Intervention model
Parallel groups
Masking
Single blind
Who is masked
Outcomes assessor
Enrolment
23 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT02600858
Sponsor's protocol ID
IRB_00085073_UL
Status last verified
Feb 2018
First submitted
5 Nov 2015
Last updated
22 Feb 2018
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
No

Publications

  • Reed AM, Duff K, Dibble LE, Paul SS, Hooyman A, Schaefer SY. Examining the Diagnostic Accuracy of a Novel Performance-Based Test for Alzheimer's Disease Screening. J Prev Alzheimers Dis. 2024;11(4):903-907. doi: 10.14283/jpad.2024.93.

    PubMed 39044501

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A study testing Upper limb feeding training in people with Parkinson Disease, run by University of Utah at 1 site 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 4 inclusion and 7 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 22 Feb 2018. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site 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.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Task performance (response time) at initial retention, adjusted for baseline (first trial of acquisition on Day 3) (time frame: Day 8 (i.e. 48 hours after the last block of training)). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT02600858, which also lists 1 linked publication.

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 22 Feb 2018.

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