N/A N=3 Treatment

Home-based Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) for Behavioral Symptoms in Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD)

Alzheimer Disease

Bottom Line

View on ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT05478681 ↗

Enrolled (actual)

Serious AEs

—

Results posted

Oct 2025

Primary outcome: Primary: Acceptability of the tDCS Treatment as Assessed by the tDCS Acceptability Questionnaire

Study Design & Population

Study type: Interventional
Phase: N/A
Interventions: active tDCS (Device)
Age: Adult, Older Adult · 60+ yrs
Sex: All
Sponsor: The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
Primary completion: Feb 2024

Outcome Measures

Outcome	Result	p-value
PRIMARY Acceptability of the tDCS Treatment as Assessed by the tDCS Acceptability Questionnaire	—	—
PRIMARY Acceptability of the tDCS Treatment as Assessed by the tDCS Acceptability Questionnaire	—	—
PRIMARY Acceptability of the tDCS Treatment as Assessed by the tDCS Acceptability Questionnaire	—	—
PRIMARY Acceptability of the tDCS Treatment as Assessed by the tDCS Acceptability Questionnaire	—	—
PRIMARY Safety as Assessed by the Side Effects Questionnaire	—	—
PRIMARY Safety as Assessed by the Side Effects Questionnaire	—	—
PRIMARY Safety as Assessed by the Side Effects Questionnaire	—	—
SECONDARY Dementia-related Behavioral Symptoms as Assessed by the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI-Q) Scale	—	—
SECONDARY Apathy as Assessed by the Brief Dimensional Apathy Scale (b-DAS)	—	—
SECONDARY Depressive Symptoms as Assessed by the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia (CSDD)	—	—
SECONDARY Cognition as Evaluated by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE)	—	—

Summary

The purpose of this study is to assess acceptability, and safety of providing tDCS to ADRD patients with behavioral symptoms and to assess the efficacy of tDCS for ADRD-related symptoms, mainly behavioral symptoms.

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

have ADRD and clinically-meaningful behavioral symptoms
have a caregiver willing to participate in the study
can speak and read English
have stable doses of medications for at least one month

Exclusion Criteria

any unstable concurrent medical conditions
history of brain surgery
seizure
intracranial metal implantation
current alcohol/substance use disorder

View full record on ClinicalTrials.gov →

Data sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05478681). Outcome figures and adverse-event rates are extracted automatically from the registry's posted results and are provided for clinician reference, not as a substitute for the primary publication.