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Congenital Heart DiseaseNCT02759263

Improving Neurodevelopment in Adolescents With Congenital Heart Disease

A study testing Cogmed Working Memory Training in people with Congenital Heart Disease and Neurodevelopment, run by Boston Children's Hospital 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

Executive dysfunction can profoundly impact all dimensions of a child's development. Impairments in executive function are a central component of the neurodevelopmental phenotype associated with CHD, and manifest as behavioral dysregulation and problems with attention, working memory, and organization/planning… Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 13 to 16 years
What is being tested?
Cogmed Working Memory Training
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
60 participants
Where
1 siteUnited States
Study dates
Jun 2016to Oct 2018
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 13 to 16 years
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Child

Who may be able to join

  • Diagnosis of CHD requiring open-heart surgery before age 1 year.
  • Ages 13-16 years old.
  • ≥ 6 months post-cardiac surgery.
  • Followed-up at the Cardiology clinic of Boston Children's Hospital.
  • English and/or Spanish speaking.
  • Home internet access and a computer on which the Cogmed program can be installed
  • Informed consent of parent/guardian as well as assent of child.

Who cannot join

  • Chromosomal anomalies and/or genetic syndromes.
  • Severe physical and/or sensory impairments (hearing, visual, or psychomotor).
  • IQ scores <85 at baseline
  • Confirmed diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder or a severe developmental disorder that would prevent successful completion of the planned study testing.
  • Scheduled to undergo major cardiac interventions in the 6 months following enrollment.
  • Received, receiving, or scheduled to receive Cogmed or any other computerized behavioral training program targeting executive functions or ADHD.

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

United States1 site
  • Boston Children's Hospital

    Boston, Massachusetts, 02115

Other trials in United States

About this study

Official title: Pilot Study of Executive Function Intervention to Improve Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Adolescents With CHD

Executive dysfunction can profoundly impact all dimensions of a child's development. Impairments in executive function are a central component of the neurodevelopmental phenotype associated with CHD, and manifest as behavioral dysregulation and problems with attention, working memory, and organization/planning abilities. Identifying effective treatment strategies is vital for providing optimal care for these patients. The Cogmed executive function intervention, an evidence-based computerized neurocognitive program, improves outcomes in several pediatric populations. The investigators propose to conduct a pilot study to evaluate its efficacy in reducing morbidities in patients with CHD. This is a single center, single blinded 2-arm randomized controlled trial to test the immediate post-treatment and 3-month follow-up efficacy of Cogmed intervention versus standard of care in adolescents with CHD.

Being tested
Cogmed Working Memory Training
Medical subject headings
Heart Defects, Congenital

What participants receive

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

  • Cogmed Working Memory TrainingBehavioural

    Cogmed Working Memory Program will be used as a computerized home-based intervention. Families will receive a link for downloading a web-based software program. The program will be installed on a computer at a family's home by a research assistant. Parents and adolescents will be actively involved, and during the installation session, adolescents will complete several practice trials. The 25 sessions will be completed individually by the adolescent with parental supervision. For the first 5 sessions, the participant trains on the same set of games; on the 6th session and every 5th session thereafter, a new task is introduced and replaces one of the initial tasks. At the end of each session, the adolescent can play an age-appropriate computerized game as a reward. After each session, results are uploaded by parents to a secure website, to keep track of the participant's progress. Families will be contacted weekly to check program function and discuss concerns.

Study groups in NCT02759263
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
Working Memory InterventionExperimentalThe group randomized to the Working Memory intervention will receive Cogmed computerized training of executive function and attention skills. The standard Cogmed RM will be used for this trial arm. This is a child-friendly web-based software program. The investigators will use a version of the program that contains 12 different neurocognitive tasks. Tasks become more difficult as a function of performance on a session-by-session basis. Each training session lasts 35-40 minutes, with one session to be completed per day 5 days each week for 5 weeks, for a total of 25 sessions. The program yields individual session-by-session and task-by- task training results, including the adolescents' responses, time spent on each task, and evolution curves.
Receives: Behavioral: Cogmed Working Memory Training
Control group - Standard of CareNo interventionAdolescents randomly assigned to the control group will receive the standard of care recommended for patients with critical CHD. This includes cardiac surveillance and neurodevelopmental counseling and screening at our Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Program if needed. Once enrolled in our study, an adolescent in the control group will not receive Cogmed intervention or any other cognitive intervention that targets executive functions or ADHD symptoms until after the 3-month follow-up neurodevelopmental evaluation is performed, i.e., 5-6 months after initial enrollment. Like adolescents assigned to the intervention group, controls can continue on treatments that are already in place for other neurodevelopmental disabilities (e.g., speech therapy, occupational services).

What is being measured

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

  1. Change from baseline scores at the computerized Working Memory Test from the NIH Toolbox Assessment of Neurological and Behavioral Function at post-treatment assessment (up to 2 weeks after cessation of the intervention).

    This standardized measure assesses the ability to process information across a series of modalities (visual-spatial and verbal), to hold this information in a short-term buffer, and to actively manipulate it mentally. It is considered an excellent composite indicator of adolescents' executive function skills, as it requires the simultaneous implementation of control of attention and working memory abilities on tasks of increasing complexity. Mean scores are automatically computed and are compared to a standardization sample of US adolescents of the same age. They are normally distributed (mean=100, SD=15).

    Measured: Post-treatment assessment (up to 2 weeks after the cessation of the intervention)

Timeline

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

  1. First posted3 May 2016 (estimated)
  2. Study startJun 2016
  3. Primary completionSep 2018
  4. Study completionOct 2018

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
Other
Allocation
Randomised
Intervention model
Parallel groups
Masking
Single blind
Who is masked
Outcomes assessor
Enrolment
60 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT02759263
Sponsor's protocol ID
IRB-P00022266
Status last verified
Oct 2018
First submitted
22 Apr 2016
Last updated
23 Oct 2018
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
Yes
Individual data sharing
Yes

Publications

  • Calderon J, Wypij D, Rofeberg V, Stopp C, Roseman A, Albers D, Newburger JW, Bellinger DC. Randomized Controlled Trial of Working Memory Intervention in Congenital Heart Disease. J Pediatr. 2020 Dec;227:191-198.e3. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2020.08.038. Epub 2020 Aug 19.

    PubMed 32827526

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A study testing Cogmed Working Memory Training in people with Congenital Heart Disease and Neurodevelopment, run by Boston Children's Hospital 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 7 inclusion and 6 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 23 Oct 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?

Change from baseline scores at the computerized Working Memory Test from the NIH Toolbox Assessment of Neurological and Behavioral Function at post-treatment assessment (up to 2 weeks after cessation of the intervention). (time frame: Post-treatment assessment (up to 2 weeks after the cessation of the intervention)). 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 NCT02759263, 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 23 Oct 2018.

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