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Acupressure as Long-term Intervention to Slow the Progression of Early/Mild Alzheimer's Disease

NCT07779863 · Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 188

Last updated 2026-08-21

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

This is an assessor-blinded, randomized controlled trial. A total of 188 older adults aged 60-85 years with early/mild AD will be recruited from care and attention homes for the elderly and elderly activity centres. They will be randomly assigned to receive least acupressure control (LAC) (n = 94) and CAE (n = 94), administered by caregivers (i.e., trained research assistants), for 3 sessions a week for 12 months. The primary outcome is the change in the MoCA score from baseline. The secondary outcomes include functional independence, psychological well-being, sleep quality, and health-related quality of life. The outcomes will be assessed at baseline and once bimonthly thereafter, totalling 7 sessions. A linear mixed-effect model will be applied to compare the primary and secondary outcomes. Three blood samples will be collected at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months, respectively, and the baseline blood sample will be immediately measured for the measurement of plasma Aβ42, Aβ40, p-tau181, and p-tau217, GFAP, and NfL. Repeated two-way variance (ANOVA) will be used to detect significant differences in blood biomarkers between the two groups. Linear regression will be conducted to examine inter-correlations between clinical outcomes and biomarker levels. Health and social care resource use will additionally be recorded at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months for the economic evaluation to examine the cost-effectiveness of the CAE intervention compared with LAC.

Conditions

Interventions

PROCEDURE

Comfy Acupressure for the Elderly

CAE consists of 12 steps, which need about 15 minutes to complete and concentrate on the acupoints on the face, head, neck, shoulder, and hand. CAE intervention will be conducted 3 times per week for 12 consecutive months by trained research assistants.

PROCEDURE

Least acupressure control

LAC consists of three acupoints in the head, neck/shoulder, and hand: Tongtian (BL7), Jianzhen (SI9), and Shousanli (LI10). The completion of one LAC session needs about 3 to 4 minutes. LAC intervention will be conducted 3 times per week for 12 consecutive months by trained research assistants.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • The University of Hong Kong

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
DOUBLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
60 Years
Max Age
85 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2027-01-01
Primary Completion
2029-08-31
Completion
2030-08-31

Countries

  • Hong Kong

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Entities

Diseases

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 NCT07779863 on ClinicalTrials.gov