Exercise to Improve Brain Health in Older African Americans
Determinants of Individual Differences in the Efficacy of Aerobic Exercise to Improve Brain Health and Reduce Alzheimer's Disease Risk in Older African Americans
Who can join
As published by the study on ClinicalTrials.gov. "Not stated" means the study hasn't said — ask the study team.
- Age
- 60 Years and older
- Sex
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Compensation
- Not stated
Other requirements are listed under Eligibility below. Only the study team can confirm whether you can join.
What to expect
No one can promise a trial will help you personally — that is what the research is trying to find out.
What participation involves
- Procedures mentioned: MRI scans
Only what the study's summary and detailed description on ClinicalTrials.gov say. Time periods may describe the whole study or a part of it — ask the study team what applies to you.
Show the study's own words
- "Participants will undergo-- at baseline and post-test-- health assessments, cognitive tests, and structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and a blood-draw to assess Alzheimer's risk biomarker levels."
- "All participants will undergo-at enrollment and post-intervention-health assessments, cognitive tests, and structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and a blood-draw to assess amyloid (Aβ 42/40) and tau (p-tau231, p-tau181)."
- Compensation
- Not stated
- Study-related exams and procedures are typically provided at no cost. This is how many trials work in general — confirm the details for this study with the study team.
- Participants are monitored closely by the research team throughout the study.
- Some participants may receive access to an investigational treatment, which is still being studied.
- Your participation helps researchers learn whether this approach could help future patients.
About this study
In plain language
This study compares cardio-dance exercise with strength, stretching, and balance exercise in Black or African American adults age 60 or older. It tests how these exercises affect brain health and signs of Alzheimer's risk, and whether differences in a gene called ABCA7 affect the results.
The goal of this clinical trial is to test the effects of different types of exercise on brain health and Alzheimer's risk in older African Americans. Specifically, the main question\[s\] it aims to answer are: * What is the effect of a Cardio-Dance Fitness (CDF) vs. a Strength, Flexibility, and Balance (SFB) intervention on a cognitive marker of Alzheimer's risk, generalization? * What is the effect of the CDF vs. SFB intervention on a fMRI biomarker of Alzheimer's, neural flexibility, and do improvements in neural flexibility mediate improvements in generalization? * Do ABCA7 genotypic variations moderate the efficacy of the CDF vs. SFB intervention for reducing Alzheimer's risk? Participants will undergo-- at baseline and post-test-- health assessments, cognitive tests, and structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and a blood-draw to assess Alzheimer's risk biomarker levels.
Compensation is read from the study's own description and may be missing — always confirm with the study team.
Eligibility
Who can join
- Identify as African American or Black.
- Be age 60 or older.
- Be able to speak, read, and understand English.
- Be available during the study and walk without a wheelchair, walker, or cane.
- Do less than 60 minutes of physical activity each week, based on a questionnaire.
- Score 28–35 on a phone test of memory and thinking.
- Score 20–26 on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, an in-person memory and thinking test.
- Have approval from your primary care doctor to take part.
Who can't join
- Color blindness.
- A diagnosed brain or nerve disorder, including headaches or damage to nerves outside the brain and spinal cord.
- Certain mental health conditions that may affect brain test results or study tasks, such as major depression, schizophrenia, or related disorders; or a score of 5 or higher on a short depression screening test.
- A substance use or addiction disorder, or treatment for one in the past 5 years.
- Chemotherapy or radiation treatment for cancer, or plans for general anesthesia (medicine that puts you to sleep for surgery) during the study.
- Bone or joint problems that make exercise unsafe.
- A heart attack, heart bypass surgery, angioplasty (a procedure to open blocked blood vessels), or another heart condition in the past year.
- Current treatment for heart failure; angina (heart-related chest pain); an uncontrolled uneven heartbeat; a blood clot in a deep vein or another heart or blood vessel event; or uncontrolled resting blood pressure above 180/110.
Simplified for readability. The official criteria below are what the study team uses.
Official eligibility criteria
Inclusion Criteria: * self-identify as either African American or Black; * be age 60 or older; * able to speak, read, and understand English; * available over the study period; independently ambulatory (i.e., not needing a wheelchair, walker, or cane); * meet criteria for low levels of physical activity (less than 60 minutes per week) based on the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-short version); * scoring 28-35 (inclusive) on the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status Modified (sensitivity \[43%\], specificity \[94%\] for lower threshold; sensitivity \[93%\], specificity \[42%\] for upper threshold)55. * scoring 20-26 (inclusive) on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) during the in-person screening * have clearance to participate from their primary care physician, with oversight of all our patient health under the guidance of our physician-scientist Co-I, William Hu, Chief of Cognitive Neurology at Rutgers. Exclusion Criteria: * color-blindness (because some of our tasks utilize color as a cue); * any diagnosed neurological disorder (including headaches and peripheral neuropathy); diagnosed or self-reported non-neurological conditions that likely affect MTL outcomes, such as, major depressive disorder (or a Geriatric Depression Scale-Short Form score ≥ 5), schizophrenia, delusional disorder, schizoaffective disorder or significant psychiatric symptoms that could impair the completion of the study (e.g., psychosis), substance-related and addictive disorders (or treatment in past five years), chemotherapy or radiation treatment for cancers, planning to undergo general anesthesia during the study period; * exercise contraindications, such as, orthopedic complications, myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass grafting, angioplasty or other cardiac condition in the past year, current treatment for congestive heart failure, angina, uncontrolled arrhythmia, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or another cardiovascular event, and uncontrolled hypertension with resting systolic or diastolic blood pressures \> 180/110 mmHg.
Study sites (1)
NJ
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey - Newark campus · Newark, NJ 07102Lisa Haber-Chalom · Study contact · lhchalom@newark.rutgers.eduMark A. Gluck, PhD · Principal investigatorBernadette A. Fausto, PhD · Sub-investigatorPaul R. Duberstein, PhD · Sub-investigatorMore trials in Newark