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43 active trials for Healthy Aging

The Effect of Training on Brain Activity During Postural Tasks in Older Adults

Older people show deficits in dynamic weight-shifting, as the investigators found that more time is needed to perform weight-shifts and the movements became less fluent and accurate in older versus younger adults. Deficits with weight-shifting in the mediolateral (left-right) direction have been linked to balance and falls in ageing. Balance control can be improved with training. Virtual reality (VR) based training programs for improving balance are gaining ground, as it can provide both fun and challenging balance tasks, enhancing motivation. The investigators demonstrated earlier that older adults show an overloaded neural activation pattern compared to young adults when performing the same VR-based mediolateral weight-shifting task (wasp game). What is yet unclear, is whether improved balance capacity can be gained with training and whether such an intervention impacts the underlying neural mechanisms. Using a combination of behavioral assessments and functional Near-Infrared Spectrocopy (fNIRS), the primary aim of this study is to investigate the effects of a VR-based weight-shift training and its underlying neural imprint in older adults. Next to the wasp game, a mediolateral tracking task will be used to standardize weight-shifting speed to allow a comparison of fNIRS data during stable weight-shifting performance. Furthermore, as a previous study done by the investigators also showed that adding an extra cognitive task in a so-called dual-task (DT) negatively affects weight-shifting performance, a secondary aim will be to test whether weight-shift training will enhance performance during such DT conditions. The results of this study may contribute to the future design of technology-based rehabilitation programs.

Start: February 2021
Implementation of the Integrated Care of Older People App and ICOPE Monitor in Primary Care (ICOPE)

Introduction: The World Health Organization has launched the INSPIRE-ICOPE-CARE program towards healthy aging. It includes "intrinsic capacity", defined as "the composite of all the physical and mental capacities of an individual", which has a positive value towards prevention, and is constructed by five domains: cognition, vitality/nutrition, sensory, psychology, and mobility. ICOPE App and ICOPE Monitor are applications for the self-assessment and monitoring of intrinsic capacity. Hypothesis: Intrinsic capacity self-assessed by the ICOPE Apps could be associated with the incidence of frailty and health outcomes. ICOPE Apps might support geriatric and primary care during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Objectives: To assess the association between intrinsic capacity measured by the ICOPE Apps at baseline and the incidence of frailty in community-dwelling older adults during 1-year follow-up. Secondarily, to assess the association of intrinsic capacity and pre-frailty, falls, functional decline, institutionalization, and mortality (COVID-19-related/not related). Methods: Protocol for a cohort study of community-dwelling adults ?65-year-old, with no other exclusion criteria than the inability to use the Apps or communicate by telephone/video-call for any reason (cognitive or limited access to telephone/video-call). Intrinsic capacity measured by the ICOPE Apps and Rockwood's clinical frailty scale will be assessed at baseline, 4-, 8- and 12-month follow-up by telephone/video-call. Assuming a prevalence of frailty of 10.7%, and incidence of 13% (alpha-risk=0.05), 400 participants at 12-month end-point (relative precision=0.10) and 600 participants at baseline will be required. Associations among the decrease in intrinsic capacity, incidence of frailty, and occurrence of health adverse outcomes during 1-year follow-up are expected. ICOPE Apps might identify individuals at higher risk of frailty and health adverse consequences. The implementation of the ICOPE Apps into clinical practice might help to bring the practitioners closer to their patients, deliver efficient person-centered care-plans, and benefit the healthcare systems during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

Start: October 2020