DepressionNCT05000788
Neurophysiological RCT of Qigong in Elderly With Depression
A study testing Qigong and Exercise in people with Depression, run by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University at 1 site in Hong Kong.
Trial summary
Summary of Project: Elderly depression is a common mood disorder and the individuals will have persistent low mood and self-absorption that adversely affect their quality of life. Cognitive deficits including attention and executive function are commonly seen in elderly with depression. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 65 to 80 years
- Conditions the study is for
- Depression
- What is being tested?
- Qigong and Exercise
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 60 participants
- Where
- 1 siteHong Kong
- Study dates
- 9 Aug 2021to Mar 2027
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Not yet: the study is under way
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 65 to 80 years
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Older adult
Who may be able to join
- Elderly aged 65 years or above with depressive symptoms as indicated by the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS).
Who cannot join
- Current positive history of head injury, seizure, stroke, other CNS diseases, other comorbid psychiatric illness, or reports of strong suicidal ideation.
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
Hong Kong1 site
Buddhist Ho L.F. Tak Elderly Social Centre
North Point, HK Island
About this study
Official title: A Randomized Controlled Neurophysiological Study of Qigong in Elderly With Depression
Summary of Project:
Elderly depression is a common mood disorder and the individuals will have persistent low mood and self-absorption that adversely affect their quality of life. Cognitive deficits including attention and executive function are commonly seen in elderly with depression. Qigong, a mind-body practice, is found to have an anti-depressive effect and improve cognitive functions. Yet, the underlying mechanism is still elusive. Hence, the present study aims to conduct a randomized controlled trial to investigate how the practice of Eight-Section Brocades, a type of qigong, affects the function of the central nervous system in elderly with depression, as measured by fNIRS. A total of 60 elderly (based on power analysis 80% (β= 0.20) chance (α = 0.05, two-tailed)), aged 65 or above, with depressive mood as indicated by the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) will be recruited and randomly assigned to the treatment (eight-section brocades) and control (exercise) groups. We anticipate that this ancient Chinese mind-body based practice will result in (1) decreased depressive moods and improved cognitive functions, and (2) acute changes in the functional brain activation patterns in the PFC in elderly with depression. The results of this study will shed light on the neurophysiological underpinnings of the therapeutic effects associated with qigong, which will be invaluable for designing intervention for elderly with depression.
- Conditions
- Depression
- Being tested
- Qigong, Exercise
- Keywords
- Depression, Qigong, Neurophysiology, Functional Near Infra-red Spectroscopy, fNIRS, Executive Function, Attention
- Medical subject headings
- Depression
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
QigongBehavioural
Also called Baduanjin
Eight-Section Brocades Practice: The treatment group will undergo an 8-week Eight-Section Brocades intervention program consists of a total of 16 group training sessions with two 1-hour sessions per week. The treatment group participants will be provided with health qigong exercise in a group format led by qualified qigong instructors. All the health qigong instructors will be trained by a certified Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioner with an expertise in health qigong and they are required to pass the certification examination before delivering health qigong intervention at the clinical settings. The Eight-Section Brocades protocol will be used in this study because it is easy to learn by the participants and the clinical effects on psychosocial health were evidenced in previous RCTs. A complete cycle of the Eight-Section Brocades took 12 minutes for completion, which consists of eight sequential and simple forms of movements.
ExerciseBehavioural
Exercise Program: Participants in the control group will attend a physical exercise program for 8 weeks (1-hour sessions, 2 times a week). The exercise program will incorporate aerobic fitness, strength training, body weight workouts, balance training, flexibility and stretching into the training plan. The exercise program is provided in a group format, which will be led by qualified physical trainer.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Qigong Group | Experimental | Not described Receives: Behavioral: Qigong |
| Exercise Group | Active comparator | Not described Receives: Behavioral: Exercise |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Change in cognitive function as assessed by Attention Network Test
To evaluate the therapeutic effects of qigong on cognitive functions, we assess a range of cognitive functions including attention, inhibition, and executive function:
Attention Network Test (ANT). The ANT is a variation from the Flanker test which assesses the efficiency of an individual's subsystems of attention (i.e. alerting, orienting, executive attention). The participants' task is to identify the direction of the central arrow by looking towards the corresponding direction, where either an upward or downward arrow will be presented. The difference of performance between the congruent and incongruent conditions represents inhibitory control ability. Neutral trials will also be presented for measuring simple attention.
Measured: Changes in time points: Baseline, at the end of the 8 weeks, 1 months after treatment
Change in cognitive function as assessed by verbal fluency task (VFT)
Verbal fluency task (VFT). Executive functions are measured using the VFT. The experimental design of this task is adapted from previous fNIRS studies of verbal fluency where task blocks were interleaved with control blocks. Participants are required to generate exemplars of two semantic categories (i.e., animal and means of transportation) as many as possible, each for one minute, during the task blocks. This experimental task will begin with a 30-second phrase repetition period as a control, followed immediately by a 60-second task period (i.e, animal words), a 60-second control period, another 60-second task period (i.e., transportation words), and ended with another 60-second control period. The total measurement period is 270 seconds. The total number of correct and unique responses will be computed to reflect their fluency ability.
Measured: Changes in time points: Baseline, at the end of the 8 weeks, 1 months after treatment
Change in cognitive function as assessed by N-back Task
N-back Task. The N-back paradigm that assesses the updating of working memory is adapted and modified from previous neurophysiological studies that consists of 0-back (i.e., low working memory load), and 2-back (i.e., high working memory load) conditions. Each condition will be presented two times and the tasks will be performed alternately in blocks, separated by a 25-35 seconds rest block during which the participants will be instructed to relax and sit still. The order of the two task blocks will be randomized across participants to avoid order effects, and no condition will be repeated consecutively. Each target (a digit) is presented for 500 milliseconds, followed by an interstimulus interval of 1500 milliseconds. Each task block lasts for 45 seconds, and the total duration of the paradigm is 8 minutes. The accuracy rate and RT of this task will be calculated to reflect the capacity of working memory and processing speed.
Measured: Changes in time points: Baseline, at the end of the 8 weeks, 1 months after treatment
Change in executive function as assessed by Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB®)
The CANTAB, a computerised battery of neuropsychological tests, assesses behavioral changes in executive functioning. A test battery that assesses cognitive safety (Roiser et al. 2016) would be used in this study to tap into some of the key cognitive domains. This battery includes four neuropsychological tests which are the (a) Reaction Time (RTI; assesses processing speed and psychomotor speed), (b) Paired Associates Learning (PAL; assesses visual memory and new learning), (c) Spatial Working Memory (SWM, a measure of strategy as well as working memory errors; executive function) and (d) Rapid Visual Information Processing (RVP; assess sustained attention). Also, an emotion recognition task (ERT) which measures the ability to identify emotions in facial expressions will be added to the cognitive safety battery. Six basic emotions will be covered. The total accuracy rate as well as the subscores for different emotions will be recorded to indicate basic emotion recognition ability.
Measured: Changes in time points: Baseline, at the end of the 8 weeks, 1 months after treatment
Hemodynamic changes as assessed by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)
fNIRS is a non-invasive neuroimaging procedure used to measure hemodynamic changes, in terms of oxyhemoglobin (HbO), deoxyhemoglobin (HbR) and total hemoglobin (HbT), associated with neuronal activities of the cerebral cortex in response to attending a task within the given period of time. Optical signals will be recorded on a two-wavelength (780 and 850 nm), continuous-wave optical imaging system (NIRSIT; OBELAB Co., Seoul, South Korea). The 48 channels with a 30-mm source-detector separation which cover the entire PFC area will be used in this study. In accordance with the international 10-20 EEG system, the center of the bottom probe row will be placed at the reference point Fpz. Consequently, channel 1 to channel 16 represent the right PFC, channel 17 to channel 32 the medial PFC, and channel 33 to channel 48 the left PFC. In addition, NIRSIT has an embedded gyroscope that enables online removal of motion artifacts.
Measured: Changes in time points: Baseline, at the end of the 8 weeks, 1 months after treatment
Secondary outcomes (3)
Change in mood as assessed by Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21)
The participants' depressive, anxiety, and stress symptoms were evaluated using the 21-item Depression Anxiety Stress Scale [34]. The minimum possible raw score for the depression, anxiety, and stress subscales is 0, while the maximum possible raw score is 21 with higher scores indicating a greater degree of depression, anxiety, and stress. Raw scores on the DASS-21 will need to be multiplied by 2 to calculate the final score for severity labels (normal, mild, moderate, severe, and extremely severe).
Measured: Changes in time points: Baseline, at the end of the 8 weeks, 1 months after treatment
Change in mood as assessed by Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II)
Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). The participants' severity of depression was also measured using the 21-item Chinese version of the Beck Depression Inventory-II, with higher scores indicating a more severe degree of depression. The possible minimum score is 0, while the possible maximum score is 63.
Measured: Changes in time points: Baseline, at the end of the 8 weeks, 1 months after treatment
Change in mood as assessed by Personal Well Being Index (PWI)
Personal Well Being Index (PWI; Lau et al., 2005). This is an 11-item scale ranging from '0' (extremely dissatisfied) to '10' (extremely satisfied) and used to assess subjective well-being of our participants. The PWI score is the mean of the seven life domains. The study conducted by Lau et al. (2005) showed that it was a reliable measure for use in Hong Kong [36]. The coefficient alpha of PWI was 0.80 and the item-total correlations of PWI ranged between 0.33 and 0.69 for Hong Kong Chinese population.
Measured: Changes in time points: Baseline, at the end of the 8 weeks, 1 months after treatment
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted11 Aug 2021
- Study start9 Aug 2021
- Primary completionMar 2027 (estimated)
- Study completionMar 2027 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for DepressionStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- More trials run by The Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityThe sponsor's other registered studies.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
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
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Single blind
- Who is masked
- Outcomes assessor
- Enrolment
- 60 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, Dr Yvonne Han, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
- Investigators
- Hector Tsang, PhD, Study chair, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT05000788
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- HSEARS20210611001
- Status last verified
- Sep 2026
- First submitted
- 26 May 2021
- Last updated
- 29 Sep 2026
- Results posted
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 29 Sep 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- A Randomized Controlled Neurophysiological Study of Qigong in Elderly With Depression
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT05000788
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- HSEARS20210611001
- Conditions
- Depression
- Keywords
- Depression, Qigong, Neurophysiology, Functional Near Infra-red Spectroscopy, fNIRS, Executive Function, Attention
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Active, not recruiting
- Enrolment
- 60 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- The Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 9 Aug 2021 (actual)
- Primary completion
- Mar 2027 (estimated)
- Study completion
- Mar 2027 (estimated)
- First posted
- 11 Aug 2021 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
Summary of Project:
Elderly depression is a common mood disorder and the individuals will have persistent low mood and self-absorption that adversely affect their quality of life. Cognitive deficits including attention and executive function are commonly seen in elderly with depression. Qigong, a mind-body practice, is found to have an anti-depressive effect and improve cognitive functions. Yet, the underlying mechanism is still elusive. Hence, the present study aims to conduct a randomized controlled trial to investigate how the practice of Eight-Section Brocades, a type of qigong, affects the function of the central nervous system in elderly with depression, as measured by fNIRS. A total of 60 elderly (based on power analysis 80% (β= 0.20) chance (α = 0.05, two-tailed)), aged 65 or above, with depressive mood as indicated by the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) will be recruited and randomly assigned to the treatment (eight-section brocades) and control (exercise) groups. We anticipate that this ancient Chinese mind-body based practice will result in (1) decreased depressive moods and improved cognitive functions, and (2) acute changes in the functional brain activation patterns in the PFC in elderly with depression. The results of this study will shed light on the neurophysiological underpinnings of the therapeutic effects associated with qigong, which will be invaluable for designing intervention for elderly with depression.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Single blind (outcomes assessor)
- Number of arms
- 2
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Qigong Group | Experimental | Behavioral: Qigong |
| Exercise Group | Active comparator | Behavioral: Exercise |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 65 to 80 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (1 listed)
- Elderly aged 65 years or above with depressive symptoms as indicated by the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS).
Key exclusion criteria (1 listed)
- Current positive history of head injury, seizure, stroke, other CNS diseases, other comorbid psychiatric illness, or reports of strong suicidal ideation.
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| QigongAlso: BaduanjinEight-Section Brocades Practice: The treatment group will undergo an 8-week Eight-Section Brocades intervention program consists of a total of 16 group training sessions with two 1-hour sessions per week. The treatment group participants will be provided with health qigong exercise in a group format led by qualified qigong instructors. All the health qigong instructors will be trained by a certified Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioner with an expertise in health qigong and they are required to pass the certification examination before delivering health qigong intervention at the clinical settings. The Eight-Section Brocades protocol will be used in this study because it is easy to learn by the participants and the clinical effects on psychosocial health were evidenced in previous RCTs. A complete cycle of the Eight-Section Brocades took 12 minutes for completion, which consists of eight sequential and simple forms of movements. | Behavioural | Qigong Group |
| ExerciseExercise Program: Participants in the control group will attend a physical exercise program for 8 weeks (1-hour sessions, 2 times a week). The exercise program will incorporate aerobic fitness, strength training, body weight workouts, balance training, flexibility and stretching into the training plan. The exercise program is provided in a group format, which will be led by qualified physical trainer. | Behavioural | Exercise Group |
Primary outcome
Change in cognitive function as assessed by Attention Network Test
Time frame: Changes in time points: Baseline, at the end of the 8 weeks, 1 months after treatment
To evaluate the therapeutic effects of qigong on cognitive functions, we assess a range of cognitive functions including attention, inhibition, and executive function: Attention Network Test (ANT). The ANT is a variation from the Flanker test which assesses the efficiency of an individual's subsystems of attention (i.e. alerting, orienting, executive attention). The participants' task is to identify the direction of the central arrow by looking towards the corresponding direction, where either an upward or downward arrow will be presented. The difference of performance between the congruent and incongruent conditions represents inhibitory control ability. Neutral trials will also be presented for measuring simple attention.
Change in cognitive function as assessed by verbal fluency task (VFT)
Time frame: Changes in time points: Baseline, at the end of the 8 weeks, 1 months after treatment
Verbal fluency task (VFT). Executive functions are measured using the VFT. The experimental design of this task is adapted from previous fNIRS studies of verbal fluency where task blocks were interleaved with control blocks. Participants are required to generate exemplars of two semantic categories (i.e., animal and means of transportation) as many as possible, each for one minute, during the task blocks. This experimental task will begin with a 30-second phrase repetition period as a control, followed immediately by a 60-second task period (i.e, animal words), a 60-second control period, another 60-second task period (i.e., transportation words), and ended with another 60-second control period. The total measurement period is 270 seconds. The total number of correct and unique responses will be computed to reflect their fluency ability.
Change in cognitive function as assessed by N-back Task
Time frame: Changes in time points: Baseline, at the end of the 8 weeks, 1 months after treatment
N-back Task. The N-back paradigm that assesses the updating of working memory is adapted and modified from previous neurophysiological studies that consists of 0-back (i.e., low working memory load), and 2-back (i.e., high working memory load) conditions. Each condition will be presented two times and the tasks will be performed alternately in blocks, separated by a 25-35 seconds rest block during which the participants will be instructed to relax and sit still. The order of the two task blocks will be randomized across participants to avoid order effects, and no condition will be repeated consecutively. Each target (a digit) is presented for 500 milliseconds, followed by an interstimulus interval of 1500 milliseconds. Each task block lasts for 45 seconds, and the total duration of the paradigm is 8 minutes. The accuracy rate and RT of this task will be calculated to reflect the capacity of working memory and processing speed.
Change in executive function as assessed by Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB®)
Time frame: Changes in time points: Baseline, at the end of the 8 weeks, 1 months after treatment
The CANTAB, a computerised battery of neuropsychological tests, assesses behavioral changes in executive functioning. A test battery that assesses cognitive safety (Roiser et al. 2016) would be used in this study to tap into some of the key cognitive domains. This battery includes four neuropsychological tests which are the (a) Reaction Time (RTI; assesses processing speed and psychomotor speed), (b) Paired Associates Learning (PAL; assesses visual memory and new learning), (c) Spatial Working Memory (SWM, a measure of strategy as well as working memory errors; executive function) and (d) Rapid Visual Information Processing (RVP; assess sustained attention). Also, an emotion recognition task (ERT) which measures the ability to identify emotions in facial expressions will be added to the cognitive safety battery. Six basic emotions will be covered. The total accuracy rate as well as the subscores for different emotions will be recorded to indicate basic emotion recognition ability.
Hemodynamic changes as assessed by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)
Time frame: Changes in time points: Baseline, at the end of the 8 weeks, 1 months after treatment
fNIRS is a non-invasive neuroimaging procedure used to measure hemodynamic changes, in terms of oxyhemoglobin (HbO), deoxyhemoglobin (HbR) and total hemoglobin (HbT), associated with neuronal activities of the cerebral cortex in response to attending a task within the given period of time. Optical signals will be recorded on a two-wavelength (780 and 850 nm), continuous-wave optical imaging system (NIRSIT; OBELAB Co., Seoul, South Korea). The 48 channels with a 30-mm source-detector separation which cover the entire PFC area will be used in this study. In accordance with the international 10-20 EEG system, the center of the bottom probe row will be placed at the reference point Fpz. Consequently, channel 1 to channel 16 represent the right PFC, channel 17 to channel 32 the medial PFC, and channel 33 to channel 48 the left PFC. In addition, NIRSIT has an embedded gyroscope that enables online removal of motion artifacts.
3 secondary outcomes
Change in mood as assessed by Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21)
Time frame: Changes in time points: Baseline, at the end of the 8 weeks, 1 months after treatment
Change in mood as assessed by Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II)
Time frame: Changes in time points: Baseline, at the end of the 8 weeks, 1 months after treatment
Change in mood as assessed by Personal Well Being Index (PWI)
Time frame: Changes in time points: Baseline, at the end of the 8 weeks, 1 months after treatment
Results and safety
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 29 Sep 2026.
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
Hector Tsang, PhD study chair
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Qigong and Exercise in people with Depression, run by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University at 1 site in Hong Kong.
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 1 inclusion and 1 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: under way, not looking for participants, as of the sponsor's last update on 29 Sep 2026. 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 Hong Kong. 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?
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
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 in cognitive function as assessed by Attention Network Test (time frame: Changes in time points: Baseline, at the end of the 8 weeks, 1 months after treatment). The study lists 5 primary outcomes in all. It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
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 29 Sep 2026.