Vascular Dementia clinical trials at University of California Health
4 in progress, 1 open to eligible people
The Care Ecosystem Consortium Effectiveness Study
open to eligible people ages 18 years and up
The Care Ecosystem is an accessible, remotely delivered team-based dementia care model, designed to add value for patients, providers and payers in complex organizational and reimbursement structures. Care is delivered via the phone and web by unlicensed Care Team Navigators, who are trained and supervised by a team of dementia specialists with nursing, social work, and pharmacy expertise. The evidence base to date suggests that the Care Ecosystem improves outcomes important to people with dementia, caregivers, and payers when delivered in a controlled research environment, including reduced emergency department visits, higher quality of life for patients, lower caregiver depression, and reduced potentially inappropriate medication use (Possin et al., 2019; Liu et al., 2022). The investigators propose a rapid pragmatic trial in 6 health systems currently offering the Care Ecosystem program in geographically and culturally diverse populations. The investigators will leverage technology, delivering care via the phone and web and using electronic health records to monitor quality improvements and evaluate outcomes while maximizing external validity. The investigators will evaluate the effectiveness of the Care Ecosystem on outcomes important to patients, caregivers, healthcare providers, and health systems during the pandemic. By evaluating the real-world effectiveness in diverse health systems that are already providing this model of care, this project will bridge the science-practice gap in dementia care during an unprecedented time of heightened strain on family caregivers, healthcare providers and health systems.
at UCLA UCSF
Care Ecosystem: Navigating Patients and Families Through Stages of Care, Extension Trial
Sorry, in progress, not accepting new patients
This is an extension trial of a prior trial (NCT02213458). Both persons with dementia (PWD) and their caregivers were enrolled as dyads. The purpose of this randomized clinical trial is to evaluate the benefits of a program that supports model care for PWD and their caregivers. Whereas the prior trial only delivered care and examined outcomes up to 12-months, this trial extends care and outcome measurement for 5 years or until death, and includes all dyads where the caregiver reported high caregiver burden (Zarit-12 greater than or equal to 17) at pre-randomization baseline for the original trial. Participants were recruited from California, Nebraska and Iowa. Participants determined to be eligible were consented and randomized into one of two groups. Two thirds of dyads were enrolled into Navigated Care that provided them with phone-based assistance in meeting important benchmarks in their care, for example completion of legal and financial planning and strategies for minimizing caregiver burden. One third of dyads were enrolled to a control group, entitled Survey of Care. Outcomes were unchanged from the original trial except for the addition of time to long term care placement and are detailed below.
at UCSF
Rural Dementia Caregiver Project
Sorry, in progress, not accepting new patients
These caregivers are a vulnerable group due to their physical isolation and well-documented rural disparities in health care access and quality. Many rural dementia caregivers experience serious health consequences due to caregiving responsibilities that can limit their ability to maintain their caregiving role. Thus, there is a pressing need for effective, scalable, and accessible programs to support rural dementia caregivers. Online programs offer a convenient and readily translatable option for program delivery because they can be accessed by caregivers in the home and at the convenience of the user. Building Better Caregivers is an online 6-week, interactive, small-group self-management, social support, and skills-building workshop developed for caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer's disease or related dementia. The investigators will conduct a hybrid effectiveness-implementation randomized controlled trial that will enroll and randomize 640 rural dementia caregivers into two groups: the intervention (workshop) group and the attention control group. Caregivers will be recruited throughout the United States. Primary outcomes will be caregiver stress and depression symptoms. The investigators hypothesize that stress scores and depression symptoms will be significantly improved at 12 months in the intervention group versus control group. The investigators will also identify key strengths (facilitators) and weaknesses (barriers) of workshop implementation. The investigators will use the RE-AIM implementation framework and a mixed methods approach to identify implementation characteristics pertinent to both caregivers and rural community organizations. If the Building Better Caregivers workshop is proven to be effective, this research has the potential to open new research horizons, particularly on how to reach and effectively support isolated dementia caregivers in rural areas with an intervention that is scalable, even in low-resourced settings. If the workshop can achieve its goals with rural dementia caregivers, some of those most isolated, it would also be expected to be scalable in other low-resourced settings (e.g., in urban or suburban environments).
at UCSF
The Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study AD/ADRD Project
Sorry, accepting new patients by invitation only
The DPPOS AD/ADRD project will address the overarching question: What are the determinants and the nature of cognitive impairment among persons with pre-diabetes (PreD) and type 2 diabetes (T2D), who are a high-risk group for cognitive impairment and represent a large fraction of the United States (US) population? This U19 proposal addresses the National Alzheimer's Project Act goal to "prevent, halt, or reverse AD" in the high-risk group of persons with pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes, who represent over half of the population aged 60 years and older in the US.
at UCLA UCSD
Our lead scientists for Vascular Dementia research studies include Veronica Yank, MD Katherine L Possin, PhD.
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