Cognitive Impairment, Congestive Heart Failure
Conditions
Keywords
Cognitive training, Cognitive impairment, Heart failure, Cognition
Brief summary
The daily routine in clinical settings often showed cognitive impairments in patients with congestive heart failure, particularly in terms of executive functions, episodic memory, perceptual speed and attention. It is assumed that cognitive impairments in patients with congestive heart failure may lead to deficits in medication-adherence and self-care abilities, resulting in increased healthcare costs. Recent studies reported performance improvements after cognitive training that transferred to new, untrained tasks and abilities in healthy subjects across a wide range of ages. This study investigates the effects of cognitive training in patients with congestive heart failure.
Detailed description
Cognitive functions of patients with congestive heart failure (NYHA II-III) before (pretest) and after (posttest) cognitive-training intervention are investigated. Changes in cognitive functions are compared to changes in two control groups: 1) age and gender matched active control group 2) age and gender matched passive waiting list control group. The neuropsychological test battery applied at pretest and posttest includes measures of episodic memory, working memory, short-term memory, executive functions, perceptual speed and intelligence. In addition, the investigators apply standardized questionnaires of self-assessed quality of life, cognitive functioning in daily life, selfcare, and psychological well-being (depression, anxiety and personality). Relevant physiological data such as ejection fraction, heartrate, N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide (NT-pro-BNP) as well as drug blood level are recorded.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALCognitive training
Cognitive training on computer. Six sessions with different tasks: Tiere merken & Räumlich visuelles Training (application BrainTwister) and Taskswitching (programmed with eprime)
BEHAVIORALTest of general knowledge
Training of general knowledge on computer. Six sessions with different topics.
Sponsors
Deutsche Stiftung für Herzforschung
Universität des Saarlandes
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE (Subject)
Masking description
Participants were enrolled in Treatment-Group, Waitinglist-Group, or Shamtraining-Group
Intervention model description
Pre-Test, Intervention, Post-Test, Follow-Up
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 85 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Congestive heart failure * NYHA II-III
Exclusion criteria
* Psychosis * Dementia * Major depression * Reanimation (\<3month) * Patients with assist device system
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Training effects | 3 weeks | Improvement in performance in the last trainingssession compared with the performance in the first trainingssession. Performance will be assessed by computesoftware. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer effects | 5 weeks | Transfer effects are measured by comparing cognitive functions in patients with congestive heart failure before and after cognitive training. Cognitive functions will be assessed by different paper-and-pencil tests and computerbased tests. |
| Changes in quality of life and psychological well-being | 5 weeks | Changes in quality of life and psychological well-being as the result of cognitive training measured by psychological questionnaires and tests. |
| Long-term benefits of cognitive training in patients with congestive heart failure. | 6 month | Follow-up assessment by 6 months after training. Long-term benefits will be measured by different paper-and-pencil tests and computerbased tests as well as psychological questionnaires and tests. |
| Compliance with medication | 5 weeks | Compliance with medication measured as serum level of medication and heart failure-specific self-care duties. |
Countries
Germany
Outcome results
None listed