Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34425878›Full record

ArticleTrials2021

Targeting autonomic flexibility to enhance cognitive training outcomes in older adults with mild cognitive impairment: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Feng V Lin, Kathi Heffner, Richard Gevirtz, Zhengwu Zhang, Duje Tadin, Anton Porsteinsson

Registry-linked trialOpen access · goldAbstract readClinical Trial Protocol
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Trials, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04522791 (Breathing, Relaxation, Attention Training, & Health in Older Adults), which is not on this map. Cited by 12 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
12citing papers in PubMed
1.1field-weighted citation impact, top 21% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT04522791 nacompletednot on this map

Breathing, Relaxation, Attention Training, & Health in Older Adults

TypeinterventionalSponsorUniversity of RochesterRan2020 to 2026Enrolled113ConditionsMild Cognitive Impairment, Healthy AgingArmsRFB, VSOP, IR
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

12 citing papers in PubMed, 13 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Autonomic dysfunction in neurodegenerative disease.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2025
    Review
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Review
  12. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.

Feng V Lin *Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1945-0362
Kathi Heffner *Elaine C. Hubbard Center for Nursing Research on Aging, School of Nursing, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, USA. Kathi_heffner@urmc.rochester.edu.
Richard GevirtzAlliant International University, San Diego, USA.
Zhengwu ZhangUniversity of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA.
Duje TadinDepartment of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, USA.
Anton PorsteinssonDepartment of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, USA.
University of Rochester Medical Center · USAlliant International University · USNeurosciences Institute · USUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · US

Funding

Targeting Autonomic Flexibility to Enhance Cognitive Training Outcomes in Older Adults with Mild Cognitive ImpairmentR01NR015452 · NINR · UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER · PI HEFFNER, KATHI L, LIN, FENG VANKEE · 2015 to 2024
$4.4M
NIH HHS \R01 NR015452NINR NIH HHS R01 NR015452
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

importanceCognitive training with components that can further enhance the transferred and long-term effects and slow the progress of dementia is needed for preventing dementia.

objectiveThe goal of the study is to test whether improving autonomic nervous system (ANS) flexibility via a resonance frequency breathing (RFB) training will strengthen the effects of a visual speed of processing (VSOP) cognitive training on cognitive and brain function, and slow the progress of dementia in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

designStage II double-blinded randomized controlled trial. The study was prospectively registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, with registration approved on 21 August 2020 (No. NCT04522791).

settingStudy-related appointments will be conducted on-site at University of Rochester Medical Center locations. Data collection will be conducted from August 2020 to February 2025.

participantsOlder adults with MCI (n = 114) will be randomly assigned to an 8-week combined intervention (RFB+VSOP), VSOP with guided imagery relaxation (IR) control, and a IR-only control, with periodical booster training sessions at follow-ups. Mechanistic and distal outcomes include ANS flexibility, measured by heart rate variability, and multiple markers of dementia progress. Data will be collected across a 14-month period. DISCUSSION: This will be among the first RCTs to examine in older persons with MCI a novel, combined intervention targeting ANS flexibility, an important contributor to overall environmental adaptation, with an ultimate goal for slowing neurodegeneration.

trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT04522791 . Registered on 21 August 2020 Protocol version: STUDY00004727; IRB protocol version 2, approved on 30 July 2020.

Indexed as

Cognitive DysfunctionAgedAged, 80 and overAutonomic Nervous SystemCognitionHumansRandomized Controlled Trials as TopicAutonomic nervous systemBiofeedback trainingCentral autonomic networkMild cognitive impairment

Identifiers

PMID34425878
PMCPMC8381519
OpenAlexW3194429490

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.