Clinical trial NCT03674931: Train the Brain With Music: Brain Plasticity and Cognitive Benefits Induced by Musical Practice in Elderly People
Official title: Train the Brain With Music: Brain Plasticity and Cognitive Benefits Induced by Musical Practice in Elderly People in Germany and Switzerland
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Age-related Cognitive Decline
Keywords: countervail age-related cognitive and cerebral decline
healthy elderly
musical training
neuroimagery and brain plasticity
psychometrics
executive function
mental health
well-being
sensorimotor function
Lead sponsor: School of Health Sciences Geneva
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Swiss National Science Foundation
name: German Research Foundation
First posted: 2018-09-18
Enrollment: 150
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 64
Maximum age (years): 76
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: Longitudinal RCT (clinical trial) with an experimental group and an active control group
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: This longitudinal study aims to countervail age-related cognitive and cerebral decline in healthy retired people through intensive piano / keyboard music practice in Switzerland and Germany.

Detailed description: Recent data suggest that music making might prevent cognitive decline in the elderly. However, experimental evidence remains sparse and no information on the neurophysiological basis has been provided, although cognitive decline is a major impediment to healthy aging. This study combines for the first time protocolled music practice in elderly with cutting-edge neuroimaging. The investigators propose a multi-site Hannover-Geneva longitudinal randomized intervention study in altogether 100 retired healthy elderly (64-76) years, 70 Geneva, 100 Hannover), offering either piano instruction or instruction on musical culture for one year. Participants will be tested at 3 time points on cognitive, perceptual and motor abilities as well as via wide-ranging functional and structural neuroimaging data (Magnetic Resonance Imaging, MRI). The research team expects positive transfer effects from intensive piano training not only on subjective well-being, but also on executive functions, working memory, hearing in noise and relationships of these behavioral features with morphological and functional brain plasticity. This study may therefore for the first time be demonstrate, that music making can provoke important societal impacts by diminishing cognitive and perceptual-motor decline underpinned by functional and structural brain plasticity.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Healthy right-handed volunteers, between 64 and 76 years of age, native French speakers. No regular musical practice over the lifespan. Only retired individuals may participate.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Impaired/not-corrected auditory or visual accuracy, neurological diseases in the present or the past, cardiovascular diseases, excessive hypertension, obesity, diabetes mellitus, beginning dementia, mild cognitive impairment, clinical depression.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Continuous Echo-Planar Imaging (EPI)
timeFrame: 18 months (4 measurements over time)
measure: Magnetization-Prepared 2 Rapid Acquisition Gradient Echo (MP2RAGE)
timeFrame: 18 months (4 measurements over time)
measure: functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)
timeFrame: 18 months (4 measurements over time)
measure: Magnetic Resonance Diffusion Tensor Imaging (MR-DTI)
timeFrame: 18 months (4 measurements over time)
measure: Magnetic Resonance Arterial Spin Labeling (MR-ASL)
timeFrame: 18 months (4 measurements over time)
measure: Behavioral Battery (cognitive function)
timeFrame: 18 months (4 measurements over time)
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Behavioral Battery (sensorimotor function)
timeFrame: 18 months (4 measurements over time)
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Geneva
country: Switzerland
facility: School of Health Sciences Geneva; HES-SO University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland
Study officials:
affiliation: Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover
name: Eckart Altenmüller, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: James CE, Altenmuller E, Kliegel M, Kruger THC, Van De Ville D, Worschech F, Abdili L, Scholz DS, Junemann K, Hering A, Grouiller F, Sinke C, Marie D. Train the brain with music (TBM): brain plasticity and cognitive benefits induced by musical training in elderly people in Germany and Switzerland, a study protocol for an RCT comparing musical instrumental practice to sensitization to music. BMC Geriatr. 2020 Oct 21;20(1):418. doi: 10.1186/s12877-020-01761-y.