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Blood Pressure Effects on Cognition and Brain Blood Flow in PD

NCT05400174 · Status: RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 60

Last updated 2026-04-27

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder worldwide. Besides causing symptoms that impair movement, PD also causes non-motor symptoms, such as problems thinking and orthostatic hypotension (OH), i.e., low blood pressure (BP) when standing. About one-third of people with PD have OH, which can cause sudden, temporary symptoms while upright, including lightheadedness, dizziness, and fainting. People with PD and OH can also experience problems thinking that happen only while upright and not while sitting - this can occur without other symptoms, such as feeling dizzy or faint. However, the level of low BP that can affect thinking remains unknown, and no guidelines exist for treating OH when it happens without symptoms. This is significant because OH could be a treatable risk factor for thinking problems in PD, but OH is often not treated if people do not report obvious symptoms.

This project's goal is to determine how BP affects brain function in PD. The proposed experiments will measure BP and brain blood flow continuously in real-time using innovative wearable technology. Persons with PD with OH and without OH will undergo repeated cognitive tests while supine (lying down) and while upright. I will study the associations between BP, thinking abilities, and brain blood flow, and will compare groups with and without OH. These findings could be important because if a certain level of BP correlates with thinking abilities, then treating OH in PD may prevent thinking problems, which would improve health-related quality of life and reduce disability and healthcare costs.

Conditions

  • Parkinson Disease
  • Orthostatic Hypotension
  • Dysautonomia

Interventions

DIAGNOSTIC_TEST

Tilt table (upright position)

Different versions of cognitive assessments will be administered in the supine and upright positions.

Sponsors & Collaborators

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
DIAGNOSTIC
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
50 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2021-12-14
Primary Completion
2026-08-15
Completion
2026-08-15
FDA Device
Yes

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Entities

Companies

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT05400174 on ClinicalTrials.gov