---
title: Strengthen cough to reduce aspiration
nct_id: NCT05700825
phase: PHASE2
status: RECRUITING
sponsor: Teachers College, Columbia University
study_type: INTERVENTIONAL
canonical_url: "https://parkinsonspathways.com/trial/NCT05700825"
clinicaltrials_gov: "https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05700825"
last_fetched: "2026-05-10T14:04:45.216Z"
source: "Parkinson's Pathways (curated)"
---
# Strengthen cough to reduce aspiration

**Goal (in five words):** Strengthen cough to reduce aspiration

**Official Title:** Rehabilitation of Airway Protection in Parkinson's Disease: Comparing In-person and Telehealth Service Delivery Models

**Trial ID:** [NCT05700825](https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05700825)

## Key Facts

- **Phase:** PHASE2
- **Status:** RECRUITING
- **Study Type:** INTERVENTIONAL
- **Sponsor:** Teachers College, Columbia University
- **Target Enrollment:** 120 participants
- **Start Date:** 2022-08-11
- **Completion Date:** 2027-09-01
- **Conditions:** Parkinson Disease, Dysphagia
- **Interventions:** Expiratory Muscle Strength Training + Cough Skill Training
- **Intervention Types:** BEHAVIORAL

## Summary For Families

The goal is to improve airway protection so people with Parkinson's swallow more safely and have fewer episodes of choking or food and liquids entering the lungs. The program uses expiratory muscle strength training to strengthen the muscles you use to breathe out so you can generate a stronger, more effective cough, plus cough skill training to teach timing and technique, and it is being tested both in person and via telehealth to see if remote delivery works as well. This is a behavioral exercise program, not a drug, so it does not interact with levodopa or other Parkinson's medications. They are enrolling people ages 50 to 90 with Parkinson's at Hoehn and Yahr stages II to IV who show airway protection problems on instrumental swallowing tests or a weak voluntary cough, are not currently doing exercise-based swallowing therapy, and who do not have other neurologic, serious respiratory, recent smoking, uncontrolled hypertension, or severe cognitive or psychiatric issues.

## Eligibility

- **Minimum age:** 50 Years
- **Maximum age:** 90 Years
- **Sex:** ALL

### Full Criteria

```
Inclusion criteria:

* Diagnosed with PD (Hoehn and Yahr Stages II-IV)126,127 confirmed by a Movement Disorders fellowship trained neurologist having reviewed the video recorded Movement Disorders Society-Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) assessment for each participant and using strict UK brain bank criteria
* airway protective deficits as defined as a minimum of penetration of thin liquids (penetration-aspiration score\>3) as determined by instrumental swallowing assessment and/or dystussia as determined by voluntary cough assessment (PEFR ≤4.1 L/s)
* not actively receiving exercise-based swallowing therapy
* between the ages of 50 and 90.

Exclusion criteria:

* Other neurological disorders (e.g., multiple sclerosis, stroke, brain tumor, etc.)
* history of head and neck cancer
* history of breathing disorders or diseases (e.g., COPD)
* history of smoking in the last five years
* uncontrolled hypertension
* difficulty complying due to neuropsychological dysfunction (i.e., severe depression with \>28 on the Beck Depression Index (BDI-II), dementia with \<19 on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA))
* allergy to capsaicin or barium
* further than 1.5 hours (door to door) distance from either Teachers College, Columbia University or Purdue University.
```

## Locations (2)

- Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, United States _(40.4259, -86.9081)_
  - Georgia Malandraki, PhD — (CONTACT) — malandraki@purdue.edu
- Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States _(40.7143, -74.0060)_

## Central Contacts

- Michelle Troche, PhD — (CONTACT) — 212-678-3072 — uadlab@tc.columbia.edu

---

*Canonical: https://parkinsonspathways.com/trial/NCT05700825*  
*HTML version: https://parkinsonspathways.com/trial/NCT05700825*  
*Source data: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05700825*