Transcranial direct current stimulation for depression in Alzheimer’s disease: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Patients with Alzheimer’s disease frequently elicit neuropsychiatric symptoms as well as cognitive deficits. Above all, depression is one of the most common neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer’s disease but antidepressant drugs have not shown significant beneficial effects on it. Moreover, electroconvulsive therapy has not ensured its safety for potential severe adverse events although it does show beneficial clinical effect. Transcranial direct current stimulation can be the safe alternative of neuromodulation, which applies weak direct electrical current to the brain. Although transcranial direct current stimulation has plausible evidence for its effect on depression in young adult patients, no study has explored it in older subjects with depression in Alzheimer’s disease. Therefore, we present a study protocol designed to evaluate the safety and clinical effect of transcranial direct current stimulation on depression in Alzheimer’s disease in subjects aged over 65 years. METHOD: This is a two-arm, parallel-design, randomized controlled trial, in which patients and assessors will be blinded. Subjects will be randomized to either an active or a sham transcranial direct current stimulation group. Participants in both groups will be evaluated at baseline, immediately, and 2 weeks after the intervention. DISCUSSION: This study investigates the safety and effect of transcranial direct current stimulation that may bring a significant impact on both depression and cognition in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, and may be useful to enhance their quality of life. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02351388. Registered on 27 January 2015. Last updated on 30 May 2016. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13063-017-2019-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.