7 Clinical Trials for Various Conditions
Nearly 50% of older adults complain of poor habitual sleep, and in many cases the underlying reason remains undiagnosed or unknown. Meanwhile, observational data suggest that bedroom temperature significantly influences sleep quality in community-dwelling older adults, including those without financial constraints that limit the use of heating and cooling. These individuals often struggle to maintain an optimal bedroom temperature, either due to impaired motor function and cognitive abilities, and/or a lack of awareness about how temperature affects their sleep. Therefore, for a non-trivial portion of older adults, optimizing the bedroom temperature presents an exciting and untapped opportunity to improve sleep without substantial cost, burden, and side effects. The intervention, biologically adaptive control of bedroom temperature, uses wearable health trackers (e.g., a Garmin watch) and smart thermostats to automate and personalize bedroom temperature control, tailoring it to each person's unique physiology and context. Initially, individuals will be monitored in their home to determine each person's specific temperature range that promotes sleep quality, as measured by the wearable device. After the initial monitoring, the smart thermostat will maintain bedroom temperature within the optimal range for sleep for as long as the individual uses the intervention. The primary purpose of this project is to test the feasibility of biologically adaptive control of bedroom temperature as an intervention to improve sleep in older adults and gather preliminary data to facilitate sample size calculations for a definitive trial. 20 Older adults, aged 65 and above, will be enrolled and their bedrooms bedrooms will be equipped with smart thermostats. The first aim focuses on assessing the feasibility of the intervention. This includes evaluating participant recruitment and retention, the acceptability of temperature adjustments (tracked through the number of temperature overrides by participants), and the self-reported likelihood of future use. The second aim involves analyzing the mean and variance of sleep outcomes during observation and intervention phases (separately for each group), examining the degree to which they vary with temperature variations and behavioral adaptations.
Hypobaric hypoxia (decreased oxygen supply to body tissues due to low atmospheric pressure) caused by exposure to high altitude disrupts sleep. Sleep deprivation is associated with degraded post-sleep performance of neurobehavioral tasks. The lowest altitude at which sleep and/or post-sleep performance are affected is not known. The study hypothesis is that sleep and/or post-sleep performance of neurobehavioral tasks will occur due to hypobaric hypoxia at altitudes of 8,000 or less.
In this research study, investigators want to learn more about the factors that influence children's breathing during sleep and their sleep quality. Specifically, investigators are interested in factors that are related to risk of snoring, sleep apnea (a condition where breathing stops during sleep), and poor sleep quality.
Sleep Hygiene Study Abstract: INTRODUCTION Sleep is integral to the health of a person and can have multifaceted contributions to a person including their physical, cognitive, and psychosocial well-being. However, within a recent survey evaluating the sleep perception of patients within an acute rehabilitation unit (ARU), there was a high prevalence of reported sleep disturbances and poor sleep hygiene compared to at home (Davis et al., 2021). In addition, patients within an ARU generally have an extended length of stay-which could mean many nights of poor sleep hygiene. Given the importance of sleep in facilitating a person's health and recovery versus the challenges the hospital environment poses on patient's sleep hygiene, this study aims to examine the efficacy of a sleep hygiene toolkit provided to the patients admitted to ARU. The sleep hygiene toolkit includes multiple non-pharmaceutical resources addressing sensory stimulation and psychological and emotional needs. OBJECTIVE This study aims to evaluate the perception of sleep quality experienced by ARU patients utilizing the sleep hygiene toolkit. This study hypothesizes that with the use of a sleep hygiene toolkit, patients will report a positive impact on their sleep quality during their hospital stay. METHODOLOGY This is a within-subjects study design. All eligible participants will be given the sleep hygiene intervention administered for a period of five days. The sleep hygiene toolkit includes multiple resources including assistive devices (ie. eye masks and ear plugs), sensory-based tools (ie. aromatherapy, music, meditation, and breathing techniques), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) activities (ie. addressing anxiety and worry), and education and training on sleep hygiene. The visual analog scales on the Richards-Campbell Sleep Questionnaire will be used to assess patient's overall sleep perception pre- and post-intervention. CONCLUSION Given this prevalent area of need for patients admitted to ARU, occupational therapists (OT) can offer an additional way to address it. According to the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework (2020), OTs are well-equipped to provide comprehensive treatment to promote a person's sleep preparation and sleep participation. The results will determine the efficacy of a sleep hygiene toolkit for ARU patients in addressing their sleep needs-an important component in a patient's health and recovery during their hospital stay. SIGNIFICANCE OF TOPIC This study aims to highlight the barriers to successful participation in the occupation of sleep and rest for patients admitted to an acute rehabilitation unit (ARU). The creation of this sleep hygiene toolkit is to address a person's sleep preparation and sleep participation. Although sleep quality and its impact are a topic well studied, there is limited study on occupational therapy led interventions aimed to benefit the patient's sleep quality in an ARU setting.
This Western Pennsylvania-based study will (1) improve cardiovascular risk stratification to identify high-risk populations, (2) identify disparities in cardiovascular risk based on race, socioeconomic status, and geographic location, (3) evaluate mechanisms for population differences in cardiovascular risk, and (4) implement a multidisciplinary community-based intervention program to decrease cardiovascular risk in high-risk populations. These goals, which are designed to eliminate ethnic and racial health disparities, are closely tied to the National Initiative to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health and the nation's health promotion and disease prevention agenda established in Healthy People 2010. This is a prospective cohort study of 2,000 residents of the state of Pennsylvania with approximately equal representation of white and African American subjects. All participants will undergo assessments of traditional and nontraditional risk factors to identify and determine the mechanisms of population disparities in cardiovascular risk. 800 participants who are at intermediate or high risk of cardiovascular disease will be randomly assigned to either (1) usual care/"advice only"; or (2) a multidisciplinary behavioral modification program to determine the most effective approach to reduce or eliminate racial, socioeconomic and geographic disparities in cardiovascular risk. All participants will undergo long-term follow-up for cardiovascular events.
For many years researchers have been trying to better understand the regulation of sleep and activity by studying circadian (daily) rhythms of human beings. It appears that the hormones estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone play a role in the regulation of circadian rhythm in animals. Researchers believe these hormones may also play a similar role in the regulation of human circadian rhythms. Little research has been conducted on how these hormones affect human circadian rhythms. This study is designed to learn more about how specific hormones influence men and women's daily rhythms. This study will use women from another research study being conducted at the NIMH called, "The central nervous system effects of pharmacologically induced hypogonadotropic hypogonadism with and without estrogen and progesterone". Male subjects will be recruited from another NIMH study called, "The central nervous system effects of pharmacologically induced hypogonadotropic hypogonadism with and without testosterone replacement". In order to test the possibility that gonadal steroids (estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone) change circadian rhythms and the sleep-wake cycle in humans, participants will undergo chronobiologic evaluations. The chronobiologic evaluations will look at sleep and rest periods, activity as measured by a wrist monitor, and 24 hour inpatient electroencephalograph (EEG), rectal temperature, and melatonin monitoring.
The original study (GARM I) has been conducted for more than 18 years at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). GARM II is a nationwide research study about age-related macular degeneration in the next generation of adults (49 to 65 years old). The purpose of this study is to identify the hereditary and exposure risk factors that lead to the development of ARM (Age related maculopathy). Participants will communicate with the research staff through a protected and confidential website and use this website to complete a number of questionnaires during the course of the study (see below). For genetic analyses, the participants will mail in easily self-collected saliva samples in special containers. Eye photographs and eye health records are sent to the research center from local sources through the Internet. Individuals are not expected to come to UCLA in order to participate. https://jseiclinres.jsei.ucla.edu/garm/ Participants will be expected to answer questionnaires or surveys about medical history, ocular history and visual symptoms, family history, smoking, dietary supplements and light exposure.