Olfactory Training in Mild Cognitive Impairment
Jeffrey Motter
Summary
Sense of smell tends to decline in individuals with early Alzheimer's disease, typically earlier than when other senses and thinking abilities begin to decline. Memory for new odors is particularly diminished in these individuals. Existing treatments for AD do not improve these symptoms. A targeted treatment for improving sense of smell, called 'Olfactory Training', has been used to improve sense of smell in people with various forms of smell loss, though it is not known whether it can improve smell abilities and thinking abilities in patients who are at high risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. The investigators will conduct a randomized clinical trial with patients who have mild cognitive impairment (MCI). This is an early phase of memory loss that is worse than normal aging and may precede Alzheimer's disease. Patients will be randomized to either olfactory memory training or visual memory training for 3 months, with a final follow-up visit at 6 months. This study will attempt to determine if olfactory training is a useful for improving smell abilities, thinking abilities, and everyday functioning by examining change in these outcomes over time.
Description
There is an urgent and unmet need to develop interventions capable of improving cognition and everyday functioning in individuals at risk for cognitive decline. Olfactory training consists of systematic exposures to odors, with multiple reviews and meta-analyses concluding it has beneficial effects on cognition and olfaction. The application of olfactory training for preventing cognitive decline in MCI has received limited attention. The overarching goal of the research to be carried out in this application is to determine the feasibility and efficacy of Olfactory Memory Training (OMT) for pat…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 55–89 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria: 1. Age 55-89 at the time of informed consent. 2. Montreal Cognitive Assessment score \>=17. 3. Subjective cognitive complaints, i.e., memory or other cognitive complaints, e.g., naming/language. 4. Meets criteria for cognitive impairment (CI), including either early mild cognitive impairment (eMCI) or late mild cognitive impairment (lMCI), defined as memory function documented by scoring below the education adjusted cutoff on the Logical Memory II subscale (Story A, Delayed Paragraph Recall) from the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) - III (the maximum score is 25). The criteria…
Interventions
- BehavioralOlfactory Memory Training
Participants will complete 48 OMT sessions at home lasting approximately 10 minutes each over 3 months.
- BehavioralVisual Memory Training
Participants will complete 48 VMT sessions at home lasting approximately 10 minutes each over 3 months.
Location
- New York State Psychiatric InstituteNew York, New York