Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on Motor Function in Schizophrenia Patients and Individuals at Risk for Psychotic Onset

Dr WANG Shumei120 enrolled

Overview

The purposes of this research are to investigate (1) if schizophrenia patients and at-risk individuals present bradykinesia and dyskinesia and (2) if tDCS improves motor performance in schizophrenia patients and at-risk individuals. The first hypothesis is that both schizophrenia patients and at-risk individuals show bradykinesia and dyskinesia, and the motor symptoms are more severe in the former than the latter. The second hypothesis is that tDCS improves motor performance in schizophrenia patients and at-risk cases.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

DOUBLE

Enrollment

120

Conditions

Schizophrenia Psychosis Parkinsonism Dyskinesias

Interventions

Transcranial direct current stimulation device (Soterix Medical, New York, NY)DEVICE

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive intervention, which applies low-amplitude direct electric currents to the brain through scalp electrodes. The real (2mA) or sham tDCS intervention will be given for a total of eight sessions in four weeks with 20 minutes per session.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 12 YearsMax age: 65 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria for schizophrenia patients: * a diagnosis of schizophrenia without other psychiatric diseases * having stable psychotic symptoms * a score of 22 or above in Hong Kong version Montreal Cognitive Assessment * having no neurological diseases and no medical conditions that affect motor performance No Exclusion Criteria. Inclusion Criteria for at-risk individuals: * a score of nine or above in the Chinese version of the 16-item Prodromal Questionnaire (CPQ-16) * a score of 22 or above in Hong Kong version Montreal Cognitive Assessment * having no diagnosis of psychiatric diseases * having no neurological diseases and no medical conditions that affect motor performance No Exclusion Criteria. Inclusion Criteria for healthy controls: * a score less than nine in CPQ-16 * a score of 22 or above in Hong Kong version Montreal Cognitive Assessment * having no diagnosis of psychiatric diseases * having no neurological diseases and no medical conditions that affect motor performance. No Exclusion Criteria.

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Motion analysis by using an eight-camera motion capture system (VICON; Oxford Metrics Group, Oxford, UK)

normalized movement time (representing severity of parkinsonism). Unit: second/mm

Time frame: Within one week right before the 1st session of tDCS

Motion analysis by using an eight-camera motion capture system (VICON; Oxford Metrics Group, Oxford, UK)

normalized movement time (representing severity of parkinsonism). Unit: second/mm

Time frame: Within one week right after the 8th (last) session of tDCS

Motion analysis by using an eight-camera motion capture system (VICON; Oxford Metrics Group, Oxford, UK)

normalized number of movement units (representing severity of dyskinesia). Unit: units/mm

Time frame: Within one week right before the 1st session of tDCS

Motion analysis by using an eight-camera motion capture system (VICON; Oxford Metrics Group, Oxford, UK)

normalized number of movement units (representing severity of dyskinesia). Unit: units/mm

Time frame: Within one week right after the 8th (last) session of tDCS

Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on Motor Function in Schizophrenia Patients and Individuals at Risk for Psychotic Onset

Overview

Conditions

Interventions

Eligibility

Locations (1)

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Central Contacts