The effects of medication on new tests of learning and memory in PD
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Assessing the sensitivity of an implicit cognition battery to pharmacological manipulation in patients with Parkinson’s Disease
IRAS ID
256850
Contact name
Catherine Harmer
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Oxford, Clinical Trials and Research Governance
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
00000000, 00000000
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 9 months, 31 days
Research summary
Research Summary
People with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) can have changes in their learning and memory. Because these changes are often subtle, they are difficult to measure. We have developed a set of computer based tasks measuring memory and learning that we think are more sensitive to the changes seen in people with PD. The aim of this study is to test the extent to which performance of these tasks is affected by PD medication. If our tasks are sensitive to the effects of medication, they may be used to test the effects of new drug treatments for PD. People with Parkinson’s disease will be asked to complete our battery of computer-based tasks twice; once ‘on-medication’ (60-90 minutes after taking their usual medication) and once ‘off-medication’ (having withdrawn from medication – see details below). We will recruit 30 PD patients aged 50-75, diagnosed within the last 6 years and currently taking levodopa with or without or MAO-B or COMT inhibitors. The study will take place at the Warneford Hospital, where we will conduct a preliminary screening visit (2 hours), and 2 research visits, an "on" visit and an "off" visit, separated by a minimum of two weeks and a maximum of six weeks (each lasting a maximum of 3 hours).
Summary of Results
Cognitive decline is one the most common and debilitating non-motor symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease. Currently, no treatment options exist for cognitive impairment in PD, partly due to the lack of measurement tools sensitive to the subtle early cognitive changes and pro-cognitive pharmacological manipulation in the disease. Implicit cognition shows promise in detecting these otherwise overlooked changes.
This study was double-blind, randomized within-subject study looking at performance on an implicit task battery in patients with Parkinson’s disease (n=30) on two occasions, both ‘on’ and ‘off’ their dopaminergic medication.
We found no differences between Parkinson’s patients ‘on’
and ‘off’ their medication, although there was an effect on an explicit measure of visuospatial memory.
These results suggest that our implicit cognition tasks may not be sensitive to pharmacological manipulation in PD.REC name
South Central - Oxford C Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/SC/0184
Date of REC Opinion
3 Jul 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion