Memory support training and lifestyle modifications to promote healthy aging in persons at risk for Alzheimer's disease: a digital application supported intervention (Brain Boosters)

BACKGROUND

Evidence-based interventions to protect against cognitive decline among older adults at risk for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) are urgently needed. Rehabilitation approaches to support memory and behavioral/lifestyle interventions are recognized as promising strategies for preserving or improving cognitive health, although few previous interventions have combined both approaches. This paper describes the protocol of the Brain Boosters intervention, which synergistically combines training in compensatory and healthy lifestyle behaviors and supports implementation and tracking of new behaviors with a digital application.

METHODS

The study utilizes a single-site, single-blinded, randomized controlled design to compare a structured lifestyle and compensatory aid intervention to an education-only self-guided intervention. We plan to enroll 225 community-dwelling adults (25% from underrepresented groups) aged 65 + who endorse subjective cognitive decline (SCD) and low baseline levels of healthy lifestyle behaviors. Both interventions will be administered in group format, consisting of 15 two-hour classes that occur weekly for ten weeks and taper to bi-monthly and monthly, for an intervention duration of 6 months. Participants in both interventions will receive education about a variety of memory support strategies and healthy lifestyle behaviors, focusing on physical and cognitive activity and stress management. The structured intervention will also receive support in adopting new behaviors and tracking set goals aided by the Electronic Memory and Management Aid (EMMA) digital application. Primary outcomes include global cognition (composite of memory, attention, and executive function tests) and everyday function (Everyday Cognition Questionnaire). Data will be collected at baseline and outcome visits, at approximately 6, 12, and 18 months. Qualitative interviews, self-report surveys (e.g., indicators of self-determination, health literacy) and EMMA data metrics will also be used to identify what components of the intervention are most effective and for whom they work.

DISCUSSION

Successful project completion will provide valuable information about how individuals with SCD respond to a compensation and preventative lifestyle intervention assisted by a digital application, including an understanding of factors that may impact outcomes, treatment uptake, and adherence. The work will also inform development, scaling, and personalization of future interventions that can delay disability in individuals at risk for ADRD.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrials.gov. (NCT05027789, posted 8/30/2021).

Intervention for Cognitive Reserve Enhancement in Delaying the Onset of Alzheimer’s Symptomatic Expression (INCREASE) Study: Results from a Randomized Controlled Study of Medication Therapy Management Targeting a Delay in Prodromal Dementia Symptom Progression

Background

Cognitive reserve has been hypothesized as a mechanism to explain differences in individual risk for symptomatic expression of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Inappropriate medications may diminish cognitive reserve, precipitating the transition from preclinical AD (pAD) to a symptomatic state. To date, there is limited data on the potential impact of medication optimization as a potential tool for slowing the symptomatic expression of AD.

Objectives

(1) To test the efficacy of a medication therapy management intervention designed to bolster cognitive reserve in community-dwelling older adults without dementia. (2) To evaluate the efficacy of intervention by baseline pAD status.

Design

A 1-year randomized controlled trial was conducted in community-dwelling older adults without dementia. Randomization was stratified by amyloid β positron emission tomography levels.

Setting

Community-based, Lexington, Kentucky.

Participants

Adults 65 years or older with no evidence of dementia and reporting at least one potentially inappropriate medication as listed in the Beers 2015 criteria were recruited. The study aimed to enroll 90 participants based on the a priori sample size calculation.

Intervention

Medication therapy management versus standard of care.

Measurements

Primary outcomes were: (1) one-year changes in the Medication Appropriateness Index; (2) one-year changes in Trail Making Test B under scopolamine challenge.

Results

The medication therapy management intervention resulted in significant improvement in Medication Appropriateness Index scores. Overall, there was no beneficial effect of the medication therapy management on Trail Making Test B scores, however stratified analysis demonstrated improvement in Trail Making Test B challenged scores associated with the medication therapy management for those with elevated amyloid β positron emission tomography levels consistent with pAD.

Conclusions

Medication therapy management can reduce inappropriate medication use in older adults at risk for AD. Our study indicated beneficial cognitive effects in those with preclinical Alzheimer’s Disease. No statistically significant effects were evident in the study group as a whole, or in those without preclinical cerebral amyloidosis. Further work designed to improve the effectiveness of the medication therapy management approach and defining other preclinical pathologic states that may benefit from medication optimization are readily achievable goals for promoting improved cognitive health and potentially delaying the onset of symptomatic AD.

The strengths and weaknesses of cognitive behavioural approaches to treating depression and their potential for wider utilization by mental health nurses

Depression is widely acknowledged to be the major factor implicated with suicide, an enormous financial cost on the economies of western countries and a source of intense despair for millions of people around the world. A steady stream of articles are published both in popular, generic and specialist nursing journals that illustrate the potential of cognitive behavioural therapies in the treatment of depression. Should these therapies be restricted for use by registered therapists or do the techniques have a wider application? The marketing of these approaches for use by nurses prompted a review of the purported strengths and weaknesses of these approaches in comparison with other possible alternatives. Many mental health nurses in community settings already use cognitive behavioural approaches with clients. Here it will be argued that several of the recognized strengths of cognitive behavioural approaches lend themselves to incorporation in nurse-patient interactions in varied in-patient settings by nurses who spend protracted periods of time with depressed patients but lack formal therapist qualifications and do not consider themselves counsellors.