Feasibility and Efficacy of Attentional-Control Training in Sickle Cell Disease
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: EndeavorRx.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Sickle Cell Disease, Attention Deficit, Cognitive Deficit in Attention. Basic parameters: 8 years — 16 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- United States
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
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Overview
Children with sickle cell disease (SCD) exhibit significantly reduced cognitive functioning (often difficulties with attention) compared to peers and siblings without SCD. EndeavorRx (Akili Interactive Labs: Boston, MA) is an FDA-approved home-based, electronic attentional-control training program designed to treat attention problems in youth. Users access EndeavorRx on a tablet device for 25-30 minutes each day, 5 days per week, for 4 weeks. The program involves training in a game-like environment that repeatedly challenges attentional-control abilities and adapts to user performance, becoming more difficult over time as performance improves. This pilot study is examining the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of EndeavorRx in a sample of 20 children with SCD ages 8-16 who are being treated with chronic blood transfusion therapy.
Detailed description
Children with sickle cell disease (SCD) exhibit significantly reduced cognitive functioning compared to peers and siblings without SCD. Cognitive deficits are greatest among those with severe SCD genotypes, persistent anemia, and strokes and these deficits worsen over time. These deficits often manifest as difficulties with executive functioning and attention due to the predominance of cerebral infarcts (\>90%) that occur in the frontal cortex. Reduced capacity to engage such cognitive skills has significant real-world implications, leading to disruption to academic achievement and attainment, vocational outcomes, and quality of life. EndeavorRx (Akili Interactive Labs: Boston, MA) is an FDA-approved home-based, electronic attentional-control training program designed to treat attention problems in youth. Users access EndeavorRx on a tablet device for 25-30 minutes each day, 5 days per week, for 4 weeks. The program involves training in a game-like environment that repeatedly challenges attentional-control abilities and adapts to user performance, becoming more difficult over time as performance improves. Data support effects of EndeavorRx on performance-based and parent-reported measures of attention in youth with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Given the similarities in attentional functioning among youth with ADHD and those with SCD, EndeavorRx holds promise as an intervention for patients experiencing SCD-related cognitive deficits. This pilot study is examining the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of EndeavorRx in a sample of 20 children with SCD ages 8-16 who are being treated with chronic blood transfusion therapy due to an identified high risk of stroke or as a preventive measure to protect against additional stroke events.
Interventions
- Device EndeavorRx
EndeavorRx is a digital intervention delivered through an action video game that is indicated to improve attention function. EndeavorRx users first complete two discrete tasks: 1) a perceptual discrimination/attention task in which users respond to target stimuli and ignore distractor stimuli (e.g., tapping the screen quickly only when red aliens appear) and 2) a sensorimotor navigation task in which users tilt their device to steer a hovercraft down a river while targeting or avoiding certain o
Primary outcome measures
- EndeavorRx feasibility assessed by patient/family interest [Time frame: Approximately 10 months]
- EndeavorRx feasibility assessed by program completion rates [Time frame: Approximately 4 weeks per participant]
- EndeavorRx feasibility assessed by reports of technical ease-of-use and satisfaction [Time frame: Approximately 4 weeks from start of intervention]
Secondary outcome measures (2)
- Inattention assessed by change in Omission Errors on the Conners' Continuous Performance Test, 3rd Edition (CPT-3) [Time frame: Approximately 4 weeks from start of intervention]
- Inattention assessed by change in the Inattention subscale of the ADHD Rating Scale, Fifth Edition (ADHD-RS-V) [Time frame: Approximately 4 weeks from start of intervention]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- diagnosis of SCD
- ages 8-16 years
- maintained on monthly blood transfusions consistently for at least 3 months.
- patients will be proceed to the intervention phase only if they have a T-score > 75th percentile for Omission Errors on the Conners' Continuous Performance Test, 3rd Edition (CPT-3) or a T-score > 75th percentile for the Inattention subscale of the ADHD Rating Scale, Fifth Edition (ADHD-RS-V).
Exclusion criteria
- estimated Intelligence Quotient < 70
- motor, visual, or auditory impairment that prevents computer use
- known diagnosis of a mental health condition that precludes, or takes treatment precedence over, participation in cognitive training
- history of photosensitive seizures
- insufficient English fluency.
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: No
Study design
- Allocation
- N/A
- Model
- Single group
- Masking
- Open label
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
Study locations
United States · 1 center
- Children's National Hospital — Washington D.C.
Identifiers
NCT: NCT05099874 · Pro00016536