# Partnered Rhythmic Rehabilitation for Enhanced Motor-Cognition in Prodromal Alzheimer's Disease-Enhancement-Refinement Supplement

> **NIH NIH R01** · EMORY UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $165,249

## Abstract

Brief Summary
This supplement request has key purposes for the PARTNER trial: 1) enhance the rigor of the trial by
assessing participants for amyloid beta 40/42, which requires only a blood sample to determine prognosis for
eventual development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD); 2) using state of the art equipment for motion analysis,
enhance the biomechanical understanding of movement assessments and interventions implemented in the
PARTNER trial. Interventions that affect multiple factors are more likely to be successful in AD. Functional
decline in AD is severely impacted by impaired ability to integrate and modulate complex cognitive and motor
abilities, ie, motor-cognitive integration. Many interventions have ignored motor-cognitive problems, which
occur in the early stages of AD (i.e., prodromal AD, pAD) and may precede other symptoms. We will use
partnered, rhythmic rehabilitation (PRR), an ideal intervention, to simultaneously target cardiovascular, social
and motor-cognitive domains important to AD. PRR is moderate intensity, cognitively-engaging social dance
that targets postural control systems, involves learning multiple rhythmic stepping patterns, while fostering
tactile communication of motor goals between partners, enhancing social interaction’s effect on cognition. We
are conducting a 1-year Phase II single-blind randomized clinical trial using PRR in 60 patients with pAD. Our
hypothesis is that PRR is safe, tolerable and associated with improved motor-cognitive function, cardiovascular
fitness and systemic inflammation and neuronal, vascular and inflammatory intermediaries. Prior work showed
PRR impacts cognitive domains needed for motor-cognitive integration (visuospatial, executive and
attention/working memory), and social domains via one-on-one tactile and rhythmic interactions. PRR training
increases activity in the inferior frontal and inferior temporal gyri, regions implicated in motor-cognition and
possible targets for AD-related pathologies. Participants with pAD will be assigned to three months of biweekly
sessions, followed by nine months of weekly sessions of PRR or group walking (WALK) with 1:1 allocation.
Group walking in WALK isolates our ability to detect the effect of the cognitively-engaging elements of PRR.
Using an intent-to-treat approach, the PARTNER trial will 1. Determine acceptability, safety, tolerability and
satisfaction with PRR in pAD. 2. Compare efficacy of PRR vs. WALK for improving motor-cognitive integration
in pAD; 3. Identify the most sensitive endpoint for a Phase III trial from a set of motor-cognitive, volumetric MRI
and cognitive measures; and 4. Explore neural, vascular, inflammatory and biomechanical mechanisms by
which PRR affects pAD to derive effect sizes of intermediary measures and aid us in estimating the sample
size for a future trial.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10291663
- **Project number:** 3R01AG062691-02S2
- **Recipient organization:** EMORY UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Madeleine Eve Hackney
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $165,249
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2019-04-01 → 2024-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10291663

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10291663, Partnered Rhythmic Rehabilitation for Enhanced Motor-Cognition in Prodromal Alzheimer's Disease-Enhancement-Refinement Supplement (3R01AG062691-02S2). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10291663. Licensed CC0.

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