Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on Motor Function in Schizophrenia Patients and Individuals at Risk for Psychotic Onset

Status

UNKNOWN

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT04086160

Enrollment

120

Registered

2019-09-11

Start date

2019-08-22

Completion date

2023-12-31

Last updated

2023-03-01

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Dyskinesias, Parkinsonism, Psychosis, Schizophrenia

Brief summary

The purposes of this research are to investigate (1) if schizophrenia patients and at-risk individuals present bradykinesia and dyskinesia and (2) if tDCS improves motor performance in schizophrenia patients and at-risk individuals. The first hypothesis is that both schizophrenia patients and at-risk individuals show bradykinesia and dyskinesia, and the motor symptoms are more severe in the former than the latter. The second hypothesis is that tDCS improves motor performance in schizophrenia patients and at-risk cases.

Interventions

DEVICETranscranial direct current stimulation device (Soterix Medical, New York, NY)

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive intervention, which applies low-amplitude direct electric currents to the brain through scalp electrodes. The real (2mA) or sham tDCS intervention will be given for a total of eight sessions in four weeks with 20 minutes per session.

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

DOUBLE (Subject, Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

12 Years to 65 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

for schizophrenia patients: * a diagnosis of schizophrenia without other psychiatric diseases * having stable psychotic symptoms * a score of 22 or above in Hong Kong version Montreal Cognitive Assessment * having no neurological diseases and no medical conditions that affect motor performance No

Exclusion criteria

. Inclusion Criteria for at-risk individuals: * a score of nine or above in the Chinese version of the 16-item Prodromal Questionnaire (CPQ-16) * a score of 22 or above in Hong Kong version Montreal Cognitive Assessment * having no diagnosis of psychiatric diseases * having no neurological diseases and no medical conditions that affect motor performance No

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Motion analysis by using an eight-camera motion capture system (VICON; Oxford Metrics Group, Oxford, UK)	Within one week right before the 1st session of tDCS	normalized movement time (representing severity of parkinsonism). Unit: second/mm

Countries

Hong Kong

Contacts

Primary ContactShu-Mei Wang, PhD

shumei.wang@polyu.edu.hk852-27664197

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026