Attexis and tDCS for the Treatment of ADHD

University of Regensburg30 enrolled

Overview

A randomized controlled two-arm study (RCT) will be conducted. It is planned to randomly assign eligible patients who receive a three-month access to the psychotherapeutic program (Attexis) to either an additional verum-tDCS or placebo-tDCS condition.

The aim of this study is to determine whether the effectiveness of the home-based therapy program "Attexis" can be augmented with another home-based procedure, tDCS treatment, in order to achieve even higher improvement rates in the treatment of ADHD in the future. Before the actual start of treatment with Attexis, the presence of an ADHD diagnosis (ICD-10: F90.0) is checked by qualified medical staff at Medbo Regensburg. If the screened patient then meets the other inclusion criteria for Attexis and tDCS, he or she will be randomly assigned to either the intervention group (receives access to both Attexis and tDCS) or the placebo group (receives access to both Attexis and placebo tDCS). Based on the study by Schlechter et al. (2023), it is planned to treat patients receiving (placebo) tDCS treatment with 60 sessions (2mA, 20 minutes per day) by stimulating the left DLPFC. As patients will have a three-month access to Attexis, it is planned to administer the additional (placebo) tDCS treatment at the same time. As soon as a patient registers for the study, the safety aspects and inclusion/exclusion criteria for tDCS treatment are also checked in an initial interview after the ADHD diagnosis has been verified. The patient is then randomly assigned to one of the two study arms. A suitable appointment is then arranged for the patient to be admitted to the device. About 60 minutes are scheduled for the explanation and instruction of the tDCS device. During the appointment, an initial trial treatment is carried out so that the patient can get used to the treatment. All subsequent home-based treatments are carried out from Monday to Friday (each lasting 20 minutes) with video observation during the first week of treatment. For the sessions via teletherapy, software approved for clinical use (CLICKDOC version 5.9.1, La-Well Systems GmbH, CompuGroup Medical SE \& Co. KGaA, Bünde, Germany) is to be used. At the end of the tDCS treatment, a final consultation will be arranged, which will take about 45 minutes. A follow-up (clinical ratings and attention test) will be carried out after 3 months.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Enrollment

Conditions

ADHD

Interventions

transcranial direct current stimulationDEVICE

Simultaneous treatment with tDCS and online-based psychotherapy

sham transcranial direct current stimulationDEVICE

Simultaneous treatment with sham-tDCS and online-based psychotherapy

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 65 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Gender: female, male, non-binary * Age: 18 - 65 * Diagnosis of ADHD according to ICD-10 * ADHD severity score (cut-off): Score of ≥17 on either the inattention subscale or the impulsivity/hyperactivity subscale of the ASRS v1.1 * Stable treatment (psychotherapy, medication, no treatment, ...) (if applicable) for at least 30 days at the time of admission * Consent to participate * Sufficient knowledge of the German language Exclusion Criteria: tDCS: * Fulfillment of the contraindications for tDCS (electrical implants or metallic objects in the body such as pacemakers or insulin pumps, skin diseases on the head) * Neurological diseases (e.g. cerebrovascular events, neurodegenerative diseases, epilepsy, brain malformation, history of severe head injuries) * Participation in another study during treatment * Pregnancy or breastfeeding Attexis: * Diagnosis of a comorbid clinically relevant severe psychiatric disorder (severe affective disorder, autism spectrum disorder, psychotic disorder, borderline personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, substance use disorder, suicidality) * Plan to change an ongoing treatment (psychotherapy, medication, ...) in the next three months after enrollment in the study

Locations (1)

Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany

Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Compliance (Number of days (60) of actual (Placebo-)tDCS-treatment)

Number of days of treatment with (Placebo-)tDCS

Time frame: 12 weeks

Efficacy 1 (Number of responders according to the ASRS-v1.1)

(Number of responders according to the ASRS-v1.1)

Time frame: 12 weeks

Efficacy 2 (Number of responders according to the subscale attention of the ASRS-v1.1)

Number of responders according to the subscale attention of the ASRS-v1.1

Time frame: 12 weeks

Efficacy 3 (Number of responders according to the subscale hyperactivity of the ASRS-v1.1)

Number of responders according to the subscale hyperactivity of the ASRS-v1.1

Time frame: 12 weeks

Stability of effects (Number of responders according to the change of the final ASRS-v1.1 sumscore)

Number of responders according to the change of the ASRS-v1.1 sumscore after treatment

Time frame: 24 weeks

Secondary Outcomes

Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale Symptom Checklist (ASRS-v1.1, sumscore)

Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale Symptom Checklist (ASRS-v1.1) (the less the better) (sumscore: 0-72)

Time frame: 12 weeks

Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale Symptom Checklist (ASRS-v1.1, Subscale: Attention)

Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale Symptom Checklist (ASRS-v1.1) (the less the better) (subscale A: 0-36)

Time frame: 12 weeks

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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