NCT05746624

Procedural Motor Memory in Long COVID-19

• Status: Completed
• Phase: —
• Study type: Observational
• Enrollment: 333 (actual)
• Sponsor: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) · NIH
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 90 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Background: Most people who get COVID-19 seem to recover with no long-term effects. However, some people who recover from acute COVID-19 infections report lingering symptoms. This is called long COVID. Many people with long COVID report symptoms related to the nervous system; these can include problems with fatigue, speech, and memory. Objective: To test motor memory in people with long COVID, compared to healthy volunteers. Eligibility: People aged 18 to 90 years who are also enrolled in study protocol 000089. Healthy adults are also needed. Design: Participants will be screened by telephone. They will confirm they are able to type without discomfort using their nondominant hand. They will confirm they have access to a computer connected to the internet. All study tasks will be done online. Participants will complete 2 tasks in 2 days. Participants will be sent a link to a website. The website will give them instructions. They will place the fingers of their nondominant hand over 4 numbers on the keyboard and type a sequence (eg, 4-1-3-2-4). They will type this sequence as often as they can in 10 seconds. Then they will rest for 10 seconds before repeating the task. They will repeat this pattern for 15 minutes. After they finish the typing task, participants will take a 10-minute questionnaire. They will answer questions about their experiences with COVID-19 and memory issues; they will say which hand they use for tasks such as brushing their teeth or throwing a ball. Participants will get a notice to repeat the typing task 22 hours after they finish the first one. They should complete the second task within 28 hours....

Detailed description

This study will objectively test procedural motor memory in a group of people with ongoing symptoms following recovery from acute COVID-19 infection. Primary Objective: We will use a keyboard typing task to investigate procedural memory formation (primary endpoint measure) in the context of COVID-19 infection. We have two primary comparisons using the same outcome measure * To compare procedural memory formation between patients with persistent symptoms following COVID-19 infection ( long COVID ) and matched controls who deny symptoms of long COVID (as reported in self-report questionnaires). * To compare procedural memory formation between long COVID patients with memory complaints and long COVID patients without memory complaints. Secondary objectives: Micro-online gains, micro-offline gains, and long-term consolidation (all secondary measures) will be investigated * between patients with long COVID and matched controls. * between long COVID patients with memory complaints and long COVID patients without memory complaints Exploratory objectives: To compare primary and secondary outcome measures between long COVID patients and healthy controls who report prior COVID-19 infection but are not suffering long COVID symptoms Primary endpoint measure: Early procedural memory formation, as measured by the difference in tapping speed (keypresses/second) between the first and last correct training trial of early learning (first 11 trials) in a keyboard task. Secondary endpoint measures: Micro-online learning. Performance improvements within training trials Micro-offline learning (rapid consolidation). Performance improvements during rest intervals interspersed with training periods. Longer-term consolidation (24 hours). Performance improvements between the last training trial of Day 1 and the testing trial of Day 2. We hypothesize that early procedural motor memory learning will be reduced in long COVID patients as compared to healthy controls (primary hypothesis). Seondarily, we hypothesize that micro-online learning, micro-offline learning (rapid consolidation), and longer term consolidation (24 hours) will be also reduced in long COVID patients as compared to controls.

Conditions

• Infectious Metabolic Encephalopathy
• Ischemic Stroke
• Seizure
• Viral Encephalitis, Small and Large Vessel

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	keypresses	benign behavioral intervention-- keypresses

Timeline

• Start date: 2021-11-15
• Primary completion: 2022-03-17
• Completion: 2022-03-17
• First posted: 2023-02-28
• Last updated: 2025-03-30

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States