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Completed

NCT Number: NCT03954210

SIESTA: Sleep Intervention to Enhance Cognitive Status and Reduce Beta Amyloid

The objective of this study is to compare the efficacy of a sleep intervention on improving cognitive function in older adults with symptoms of insomnia, determine the association between change in sleep measures and change in cognitive function, and examine the efficacy of the sleep intervention on reducing the rate of Aβ deposition. Participants, ages 60-85, will be randomly assigned to a six-week sleep intervention program. A sub-group of fifty participants will undergo Florbetapir-Positron-emission tomography (PET) imaging during the one-year reassessment to examine the efficacy of the sleep intervention on reducing the rate of Aβ accumulation from baseline to one-year post-intervention.

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Key information

Age range

60 year–85 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

University of Kansas Medical Center- Sleep, Health and Wellness Laboratory

Kansas City, Kansas, 66160, United States

About this study

Lifestyle interventions to increase exercise and improve diet have been the focus of recent clinical trials to potentially prevent Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, despite the strong links between sleep disruptions, cognitive decline, and AD, sleep enhancement has yet to be targeted as a lifestyle intervention to prevent AD. Approximately fifteen percent of AD may be prevented by an efficacious intervention aimed to reduce sleep disturbances and sleep disorders. Chronic insomnia is the most frequent sleep disorder occurring in at least forty percent of older adults. Individuals with insomnia are more likely to be diagnosed with AD and demonstrate a decline in cognitive function at long-term follow-up. AD is characterized by the accumulation of Aβ plaques and tau tangles in the brain, and growing evidence shows impaired sleep contributes to the accumulation of Aβ. An intervention aimed at improving insomnia may represent a critical opportunity for primary prevention to slow cognitive decline and potentially delay the onset of AD. Therefore, the long-term goal of this research agenda is to understand how addressing sleep disturbances, via sleep intervention, may delay the onset of AD.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Report of difficulty falling asleep, maintaining sleep, or waking up too early at least three nights a week for the past six months
  • A score of greater than, or equal to, ten on the Insomnia Severity Index
  • A score of greater than, or equal to, twenty-five on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE)
  • A score of less than, or equal to, two on the Dementia Screening Interview (AD8)

Exclusion criteria

  • A known untreated sleep disorder (i.e., sleep apnea or restless leg syndrome)
  • Currently taking benzodiazepines, non-benzodiazepines, melatonin supplements, or agonists for insomnia
  • A score of greater than, or equal to, fifteen on the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) indicating severe depression or endorsement of any suicidal ideation (an answer of one, two, or three on item number nine of the PHQ-9)
  • History of drug or alcohol abuse as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV (DSM-4) criteria within the last two years
  • History of a nervous system disorder (i.e., stroke, Parkinson's Disease)
  • Severe mental illness (i.e., Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder)
  • History of a learning disability or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
  • Current, or history of, shift work
  • Currently receiving CBT-I treatment
  • Unable to hear at a conversational level
  • Failure of a near vision test utilizing the Logarithmic Near Visual Acuity Chart

Treatment and study plan

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I)

Behavioral

CBT-I is an in-person, one-on-one program with a graduate psychology research assistant who is trained in providing a standardized CBT-I. Participants will maintain a sleep diary during the course of the program to aid in tailoring the program. Each session will begin with a summary and graphing of sleep diary data and will include an assessment of treatment gains and adherence.

Sleep and lifestyle education

Behavioral

Participants in the sleep and lifestyle education group will attend six weekly, in-person, one-on-one, stretching, and thinking activity sessions with a graduate research assistant to control for socialization and contact with research personnel.

Primary outcomes

  1. Continuous Performance Test (CPT)

    Time frame: 6-Week Reassessment

    Assessment of the participants attention. Participants will be given a set of rules for stimuli, and based on those rules they will determine if a presented stimuli fit within those rules. Scores will be determined by the number of correctly identified stimuli. Hit Reaction Time (HRT) is reported as a T-score (M = 50, SD = 10), where higher scores indicate slower reaction time and worse performance.

  2. Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS)

    Time frame: 6-Week Reassessment

    Cognitive function will be assessed using the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). The RBANS consists of 12 subtests assessing immediate memory, visuospatial/constructional abilities, language, attention, and delayed memory.

    The RBANS Total Scale Score is reported as a Standard Score with a normative mean of 100 and standard deviation of 15. Possible scores range from 40 to 160. Higher scores indicate better overall cognitive performance.

  3. Stroop Test

    Time frame: 6-Week Reassessment

    Assessment of participants executive functioning. Participants will be required to inhibit their natural response and replace it with a different response (i.e., reading a word versus saying the color of the word). Scores are obtained by taking the difference between conditions and normalizing for the number of stimuli. Stroop Interference outcomes were reported as T-scores (M = 50, SD = 10), with higher scores reflecting greater interference and worse executive function.

  4. Neuropsychological Assessment Battery-Digits Forward/Digits Backward Test

    Time frame: 6-Week Reassessment

    Participants are asked to recall strings of numbers in order (Forward) and in reverse order (Backward). The outcome is the longest string of numbers correctly recalled in each direction. Scores are reported as Standard Scores (M = 10, SD = 3), with possible scores ranging from 1 to 19. Higher scores indicate better auditory attention, immediate memory (Forward), and working memory/executive function (Backward).

Secondary outcomes

  1. Polysomnography

    Time frame: 6-Week Reassessment

    Sleep measures were evaluated using one overnight polysomnography (PSG). Standardized protocols were used to prepare the participants and place six electroencephalogram sensors to detect brain wave activity. Total sleep time (TST), time in bed (TIB), wake after sleep onset (WASO), sleep onset latency (SOL), sleep stages 1 (N1), 2 (N2), and 3 (N3), and rapid eye movement sleep (REM) were determined using standardized scoring procedures.

Other outcomes

  1. Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9)

    Time frame: 6-Week Reassessment

    Assessment of patients depression over the past two weeks. There are nine items that yield a maximum score of twenty-seven. Each item is anchored on a four-point scale with 0 being "Not at all" and 3 being "Nearly Everyday." Participants can demonstrate a minimum score of zero (no depression) or twenty-seven (severe depression). The tenth item that assesses how depressive symptoms affect functional level will not be utilized.

  2. Generalized Anxiety Disorder Assessment (GAD-7)

    Time frame: 6-Week Reassessment

    Assessment of patients anxiety over the past two weeks. There are eight items anchored on a scale of zero ("Not at all") to three ("Nearly Everyday"), that yield a minimum score of zero (no anxiety) and a maximum score of twenty-one (daily anxiety). An additional item was added to assess if anxiety impacts daily activities and sociability. GAD-7 outcomes were reported as total scores ranging from 0 to 21, calculated by summing the seven individual item scores. Higher scores reflect greater anxiety severity and worse outcomes.

  3. Sleep Efficacy Scale (SES)

    Time frame: 6-Week Reassessment

    Assessment of patients level of confidence in being able to implement behaviors that are helpful in promoting sleep. There are nine items that are scored on a four-point scale ranging from one (not confident) to five (very confident), with a minimum score of nine, indicating lower self-efficacy, and a maximum score of forty-five indicating higher self-efficacy.

  4. Florbetapir PET Imaging

    Time frame: One-Year Assessment

    Change in global cortical beta amyloid deposition over time will be assessed using Florbetapir PET imaging. Cortical regions of interest, including the frontal lobes, anterior cingulate, posterior cingulate, parietal lobes, and temporal lobes, were combined to compute a single global cortical Centiloid score. Scores are reported on the Centiloid scale, with values ranging from 0 to 100. Higher scores indicate greater beta amyloid deposition.

  5. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

    Time frame: One-Year Assessment

    Cortical beta amyloid deposition was assessed using MRI spatially aligned with Florbetapir PET imaging. Cortical regions of interest were analyzed to derive the Beta Amyloid Centiloid Score. Scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating greater beta amyloid deposition. This outcome mirrors the Centiloid score obtained from the Florbetapir PET outcome.

  6. Motivation to Change Sleep Behaviors

    Time frame: Baseline

    Participants self-reported their motivation to change sleep behaviors using a single item rated on a five-point Likert scale from 0 (not at all motivated) to 4 (very motivated). Higher scores reflect greater motivation to change sleep behaviors, with a minimum possible score of 0 and a maximum of 4.

  7. Mini Mental-State Examination (MMSE)

    Time frame: Baseline

    Cognitive function was assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Participants completed 11 items assessing orientation, registration, attention and calculation, recall, language, and visuospatial skills. Scores range from 0 to 30, with higher scores indicating better cognitive performance. Participants with scores ≥25 were excluded from the study. The outcome was assessed at baseline.

  8. Logarithmic Near Visual Acuity Chart

    Time frame: Baseline

    Participants completed a brief vision screening to assess basic visual acuity and function. Higher scores indicate better visual performance. The outcome was assessed at baseline.

  9. Apolipoprotein E (APOE) 4 Genotyping

    Time frame: Baseline

    Participants' APOE genotype was determined via blood draw using standard genotyping methods. Participants were classified as E4-negative (no e4 allele) or E4-positive (at least one e4 allele). E4-positive participants are considered to have a higher genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease. Counts of participants are reported for each category, with the sum of both categories equal to the total number of participants analyzed in each study arm.

  10. Coin in Hand

    Time frame: 6-Week Reassessment

    The Coin in Hand Assessment is a brief test of participant effort and motivation. On each trial, the examiner shows a coin in one of two hands for ~2 seconds. The participant then closes their eyes, counts backward from 10, and indicates which hand held the coin. Ten trials are administered, with the coin equally distributed between hands in random order. The outcome measure is the total number of correct responses, with higher scores indicating better attention and effort.

  11. Grooved Pegboard Test

    Time frame: 6-Week Reassessment

    Fine motor coordination and manual dexterity will be assessed using the Grooved Pegboard Test. Participants are asked to place pegs into the pegboard as quickly as possible. The primary outcome is the time required to complete the task. Scores are reported as mean ± standard deviation. Higher values indicate slower performance.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of Kansas Medical Center

Other

Collaborators

  • National Institute on Aging (NIA)
  • National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2019
Primary completion
2025
Study completion
2025
First posted
May 17, 2019
Registry last updated
Mar 27, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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