The National Institute on Aging (NIA), through its Aging Research Federal Grant Program (CFDA 93.866), awarded Hebrew Rehabilitation Center - doing business as Hebrew Senior Life - a $1,167,871 Project Grant (R01AG081349) to conduct a randomized controlled trial on the use of long-term home-based transcranial electrical stimulation to improve cognitive and motor function in older adults at risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.
The study aims to determine if transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can induce long-term benefits for executive function, dual-task gait, and related outcomes in older adults with motoric cognitive risk syndrome, a transitional state between normal aging and dementia. The project will enroll 128 participants, with some receiving active tDCS treatment and others receiving sham stimulation, to assess changes in prefrontal brain structure, function, and cognitive-motor performance over 6 months of intervention and a 3-month follow-up period. The study leverages a home-based tDCS delivery approach and a smartphone app for remote gait assessments. As a sub-awardee, Stony Brook University's Dr. Joe Verghese will provide expertise in longitudinal aging studies, data analysis, and dissemination of findings from this NIA-funded project.