ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT04896489Updated Jun 2, 2022

Neuroimaging Mechanisms by Which Memory and Glucocorticoids Promote Risky Drinking

An Early Phase 1 interventional study of Hydrocortisone 20 MG and Placebo in Alcohol Drinking, Drinking Behavior and Episodic Memory, sponsored by Yale University. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 21 Years to 45 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2022-06-02.

Sponsored by Yale University · Early Phase 1, Interventional, and Basic science

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was Mar 2022, 4 years 7 months ago, and no results have been posted to the registry.
Phase
Early Phase 1
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
27
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
21 Years to 45 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The purpose of this study is to determine whether hydrocortisone biases formation of alcohol-related memories to potentiate drinking.

Read the detailed description

This study aims to 1) Characterize the effect of elevated glucocorticoids during encoding on long-term memory for alcohol-related information; 2) Identify the neural mechanisms by which glucocorticoids influence encoding of alcohol-related experiences; and 3) Determine how glucocorticoid modulation of alcohol-related encoding relates to drinking after retrieving alcohol-related memories.

02

Conditions studied

  • Alcohol Drinking
  • Drinking Behavior
  • Episodic Memory
  • Long-term Memory
03

In context

Alcohol Drinking

701 studies on the registry are indexed under Alcohol Drinking; 133 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 27 is below the median of 122 across 607 interventional studies indexed under Alcohol Drinking.

Browse Alcohol Drinking studies →

Lead sponsor

Yale University is the lead sponsor of 1,770 studies on the registry; 294 are open to participants now.

Of its 221 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 129 (58%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
21 Years to 45 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Able to read and write English
  • 18-35
  • Beer drinking

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Meet current criteria for any substance use disorder, excluding caffeine
  • Current significant medical conditions or psychiatric symptoms requiring medication
  • Current use of medications/drugs that interfere with the HPA axis response
  • Peri and women, pregnant or lactating women, and those with hysterectomies
  • Metal in body (for MRI safety)
  • Systemic fungal infections ( for hydrocortisone)
  • Known to components of hydrocortisone tablets (hydrocortisone, calcium stearate, corn starch, lactose, mineral oil, sorbic acid, sucrose)
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(4)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

BMI (body mass index)

Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. Example: 70 kg and 1.75 m gives 70 ÷ (1.75 × 1.75) ≈ 22.9.

What counts as overweight or obesity differs between countries (some use lower cut-offs), so go by the range the study states.

Postmenopausal

Periods have stopped for good: usually no period for 12 months in a row without another medical reason, sometimes confirmed by a blood test (FSH).

Contraindication

A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.

Hypersensitivity

An allergy, or another reaction of the immune system, to a substance. “Hypersensitivity to the study drug” means a known allergic reaction to it — not every side effect a medicine can have.

05

Study design

Phase
Early Phase 1
Primary purpose
Basic science
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Crossover assignment
Masking
Triple (Participant, Investigator, Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
27 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    hydrocortisone

    Participants receive hydrocortisone (20mg)

    Drug: Hydrocortisone 20 MG

  • Placebo comparator
    placebo

    Participants receive placebo.

    Other: Placebo

Interventions

  • Participants receive Hydrocortisone 20 MG

  • OtherPlacebo

    Participants receive placebo

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Changes fMRI signal

    Changes in fMRI signal at encoding will be assessed over an hour long period.

    Time frame: 1 hour

  2. Item memory

    Item memory will be assessed through performance on delayed memory assessments. Item memory is determined by the accuracy of memory for individual items and will be expressed as dprime.

    Time frame: Up to 90 minutes

  3. Context memory

    Context memory will be assessed through performance on delayed memory assessments. Context memory is determined by the accuracy of memory for associated contexts and will be expressed as % correct.

    Time frame: Up to 90 minutes

  4. Affect memory

    Affect memory will be assessed through performance on delayed memory assessments. Affect memory is determined by subjective ratings of vividness (1-4), change in ratings from encoding to retrieval of memory (0-3). The score is averaged where a higher score indicates greater affect.

    Time frame: Up to 90 minutes

Secondary outcomes

  1. Alcohol motivation

    Performance on alcohol taste test following memory retrieval will be assessed using the Alcohol Taste Test (ATT). The test asks participants to taste the alcohol in each two containers to identify whether the alcohol was the same or different. The % correct is used to assess this outcome.

    Time frame: 10 minutes

  2. Affect - Negative

    Self-reported measures of emotional state following drug administration and memory retrieval using the PANAS. The negative subscale of the PANAS will be used and has a range of 10-50. Higher scores indicate higher negative affect.

    Time frame: 10 minutes

  3. Affect - Positive

    Self-reported measures of emotional state following drug administration and memory retrieval using the PANAS. The negative subscale of the PANAS will be used and has a range of 10-50. Higher scores indicate higher positive affect.

    Time frame: 10 minutes

  4. Neuroendocrine/cortisol reactivity

    Change in salivary cortisol levels following the hydrocortisone/placebo administration.

    Time frame: Baseline to 2 hours

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Study locations

1 site
  • Yale University
    New Haven, Connecticut 06511, United States
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Yes — Individual participant data that underlie the results reported in published articles will be shared after de-identification.

Supporting information: Study protocol

Time frame: Immediately following publication with no end date.

Access criteria: Anyone who wishes to have access to the data may do so.

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Ran from May 2021 to primary completion in Mar 2022, 10 months.

Of 32 non-industry phase 1 interventional studies under Alcohol Drinking, half reached primary completion within 40 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 23 and three quarters within 49. This study's 10 months is below that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 34 studies reached it within 37 months; a quarter within 21 and three quarters within 48.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
May 17, 2021
First posted
May 21, 2021
StartActual
May 12, 2021
Primary completionActual
Mar 15, 2022
CompletionActual
Mar 15, 2022
Last update
Jun 2, 2022
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Jun 2, 2022, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04896489
Lead sponsor
Yale University
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
May 21, 2021
Start date
May 12, 2021
Primary completion
Mar 15, 2022
Completion
Mar 15, 2022
Last update
Jun 2, 2022

Study contacts

Elizabeth V Goldfarb, PhD
principal investigator · Yale University

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
Yes
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is completed, as verified in Jun 2022. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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Discussion

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Studies of the drug tested here: Hydrocortisone

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