Studying Elderly Neurocognitive Systems for Sustained Attention in Geriatric Patients: Protocol of the SENSE-AGE Study

Sustained attention is a complex cognitive function required for the successful performance of tasks such as walking,cycling, driving, conversations and other prolonged tasks. Deficits of this function are associated with frailty, falls, andgeneral cognitive decline in older adults. Sustained attention declines with age and is impaired in many neurologicaldisorders. However, little is known about the underlying characteristics of sustained attention deficits in geriatric patientsand their impact on other cognitive domains. Successful treatment of these deficits may improve cognitive performanceand quality of life. This study aims to investigate electroencephalography (EEG)-based parameters as potential surrogatemarkers of sustained attention in geriatric patients.The study "Studying Elderly Neurocognitive Systems for Sustained Attention in Geriatric Patients" (SENSE-AGE) willinclude 120 geriatric participants admitted to a University Hospital. At the beginning of their inpatient stay, participants willperform a Go-NoGo task, a Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT) and a resting state measurement, while 32-channel EEG willbe recorded. Task-based event-related potentials (ERPs) will be derived as well as attention-related frequency banddecompositions. In addition, neuropsychological tests and questionnaires on fatigue, sleep, health-related quality of life,and subjective self-assessment will be conducted. A subgroup of 50 participants will be re-evaluated at the end of theinpatient stay, after 2 to 3 weeks of standardized geriatric complex treatment. The main hypotheses of the study are:sustained attention (i) correlates with ERP amplitude and latency; (ii) correlates with EEG power; (iii) improves after aninpatient multi-professional complex treatment at both behavioural and EEG level.The study protocol describes an experimental approach to investigate sustained attention in a geriatric cohort combininga behavioural approach with EEG recordings. The results may help to define objective and quantitative surrogate markersof sustained attention in this vulnerable cohort.