Cerebrovascular Health and Resilience in Midlife

Part of paid clinical trials in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Sponsor
University of Pittsburgh
Study ID
NCT06029348
Status
Recruiting
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Conditions

  • Cardiovascular Diseases
  • Cerebrovascular Disorders
  • Psychological Stress

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
ALL
Age
40 Years - 59 Years
Healthy Volunteers
Accepted

Interventions

  • Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task — BEHAVIORAL
    Study volunteers will be asked to complete a 4-minute Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task, which is a standardized task that is widely used to study cardiovascular responses to acute psychological challenges (or stressors) in a laboratory setting.

Study Details

This study examines cardiovascular responses to a brief psychological challenge under laboratory conditions among adult volunteers. The study volunteers are asked to complete two study sessions. In one session, the volunteers are asked to provide demographic and health-related information via questionnaires and an interview. In that session, volunteers would then be asked to undergo evaluations of their body composition, blood pressure, heart rate, and other signs of cardiovascular function and health. Lastly, volunteers would be asked to take part in a brief and challenging psychological task after a period of rest while cardiovascular activity is measured. In the other session, volunteers are asked to undergo magnetic resonance imaging and to complete neuropsychological tests of memory, attention, and processing speed. In addition to these two sessions, volunteers are asked to complete online questionnaires. The study is designed to examine associations between transient changes in cardiovascular activity induced by the psychological task, measures of overall cardiovascular health, and measures of cerebrovascular health measured by magnetic resonance imaging. Study results are expected to provide new information about the relationships between cardiovascular activity changes to psychological challenges and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular health in adults.

Key Dates

Start date
Oct 17, 2023
Status verified
Sep 2025
Primary completion
Jun 30, 2029
Completion
Jun 30, 2029

Study Design

Enrollment
450 participants (estimated)
Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE

Arms

  • Experimental: Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task
    For the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task, volunteers are presented with single digit numbers (1-9), and are instructed to add any given number to the previously presented number, and call out the answer. Volunteers are told that their performance is being monitored by research assistants. Volunteers are provided with a signaling device that they can use to discontinue testing. Lastly, participants will be asked to complete brief questionnaires to assess their levels of experienced threat, challenge, valence, arousal, and sense of control.

Primary Outcome Measure

Change in systolic blood pressure (SBP) from baseline to task [ Time Frame: Mean SBPs for the computation of change scores will be computed from the average of the 5 min baseline period and average of the 4 min task period ]

Central Contacts

Locations (1)

FacilityCityStateZIPSite coordinators
University of PittsburghPittsburghPennsylvania15213
Sara Boyko, BS

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By research site
University of Pittsburgh· Pittsburgh, PA

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