Clinical trial NCT04086160: Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on Motor Function in Schizophrenia Patients and Individuals at Risk for Psychotic Onset
Official title: Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on Motor Function in Schizophrenia Patients and Individuals at Risk for Psychotic Onset
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: UNKNOWN
Phase: NA
Conditions: Schizophrenia
Psychosis
Parkinsonism
Dyskinesias
Lead sponsor: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2019-09-11
Enrollment: 120
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 12
Maximum age (years): 65
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: 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.


Eligibility criteria: 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.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Motion analysis by using an eight-camera motion capture system (VICON; Oxford Metrics Group, Oxford, UK)
timeFrame: Within one week right before the 1st session of tDCS
measure: Motion analysis by using an eight-camera motion capture system (VICON; Oxford Metrics Group, Oxford, UK)
timeFrame: Within one week right after the 8th (last) session of tDCS
measure: Motion analysis by using an eight-camera motion capture system (VICON; Oxford Metrics Group, Oxford, UK)
timeFrame: Within one week right before the 1st session of tDCS
measure: Motion analysis by using an eight-camera motion capture system (VICON; Oxford Metrics Group, Oxford, UK)
timeFrame: Within one week right after the 8th (last) session of tDCS
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Kowloon
country: Hong Kong
facility: Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Study officials:
References: