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The University of South Florida has received a $2.8 million grant from the National Institute of Health. It will go for the Preventing Alzheimer’s with Cognitive Training (PACT) study.
It is a 5-year clinical trial that is investigating the effectiveness of computerized cognitive training with the goal of preventing cognitive decline. The trials include 76,000 participants, many from the Tampa Bay area.
PACT is the largest study of its kind. The $2.8 millon grant will help researchers to follow participants for the full 5 years. Lead researcher Jen O’Brien says that the study is applying for the next part of the grant. Researchers can follow the participants and see the effectiveness over a longer period of time.
Some challenges PACT faced were keeping participants on track.
“76,00 participants is a lot of people to try to enroll. That in and of itself was a challenge. And then to try to keep participants motivated to stay on the study, to come back for their follow-up visits. Is a challenge for the participants to devote their time to this study. So, we tried to foster really strong relationships with our participants and keep them informed about how this study was progressing,” said O’Brien.
As the study is hitting the halfway mark, there is lots of hope for how PACT will prevent cognitive decline. Many believe that cognitive decline is not preventable, but O’Brien states there are ways to fight it.
“With a disease, it has risk factors, it has contributions to the development of the disease that we hope to be able to prevent or reverse,” said O’Brien. “So just that awareness that the actions that I take in my own life and in my environment may be impacting my cognition in a later life can motivate people to do something about it, or at least be thinking about that and what they might do in the future if they do get the disease.”
PACT will conclude its trials in January 2028. For more information on the study, visit the USF Health website.