Neurology trials combine clinician scales, timed performance tests and symptom diaries kept at home, often over years. Capture handles all three in one casebook with rater attribution, completion windows and the licence tracking many neurology instruments need.
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Seizure diary
Tuesday 15 September
Did you have any seizures today?
How many?
Type
Rescue medication used?
What matters in neurology trials
By indication
| Indication | Typical measures | Collected as |
|---|---|---|
| Parkinson's disease | MDS-UPDRS parts I to IV, Hoehn and Yahr stage, ON/OFF home diary | Clinician forms at visits; diary at home in 30-minute intervals |
| Multiple sclerosis | EDSS, relapses, timed 25-foot walk, 9-hole peg test, MRI lesions | Rater form, relapse log, performance test forms, imaging reads |
| Epilepsy | Seizure frequency by type over a baseline and treatment period | Daily seizure diary, event counts |
| Migraine | Monthly migraine days, headache days, acute medication days | Daily headache diary |
| ALS | ALSFRS-R (0 to 48), respiratory function, survival | Rater form, performance tests, event log |
| Stroke | NIHSS at baseline, modified Rankin Scale at day 90 | Clinician forms at defined time points |
Home diaries
In epilepsy and migraine the primary endpoint is usually a count: seizures per 28 days, or migraine days per month, compared between a baseline period and the treatment period. The count comes from a diary the participant (or a caregiver) keeps every day. Missed days are not zero-seizure days, so compliance has to be visible and missing days have to be distinguishable from event-free days.
Capture runs these diaries as recurring questionnaires with a daily completion window. Participants complete them in the phone browser from a secure link; caregivers can complete them for participants who cannot. Skip logic keeps entries short on event-free days, and the dashboard shows who is falling behind.
Motor fluctuation diaries ask participants to record their state (asleep, OFF, ON without troublesome dyskinesia, ON with troublesome dyskinesia) at regular intervals across the day, typically every 30 minutes on a few days before a visit. They are demanding for participants, so training at the site visit, clear windows and reminders matter. Build the diary with the intervals as structured fields so ON and OFF time can be summed in analysis.
Performance tests
Performance outcomes such as timed walks and peg tests are run by site staff and recorded as site forms. Each trial is a number field with its unit and a range check, and the assessor is recorded in the audit trail. The same approach covers clinician rating scales, with one field per item.
Patient-reported
Participant, own phone
Observer-reported
Caregiver
Clinician-reported
Site staff, clinic tablet
Performance outcome
Site-run test, e.g. chair rise
Long follow-up
Degenerative disease trials and open-label extensions run for years, through staff turnover and protocol amendments. Approved forms stay identical at every site, amendments update all sites at once, and the audit trail shows who rated each visit across the whole study.
Stage 1
DraftBuild and edit freely
Stage 2
ApprovedLocked for live use
Stage 3
In the casebookOnly approved forms
SDV requirement changed on Systolic BP
Data manager · Reason: critical safety value
Form approved: Vital Signs (VS) v2
Study owner · Locked for live use
Answer changed: Weight 68.0 to 68.5 kg
Site coordinator · Reason: transcription error
Set it up in the free sandbox and complete a test entry on your phone.
Event-count endpoints
Epilepsy and migraine trials usually compare event rates during treatment with a prospective baseline period recorded in the same diary. The baseline has to be long enough to estimate each participant's usual event frequency, which is why it often lasts several weeks, and eligibility typically requires a minimum number of events during it. Participants who fall short are screen failures, so the baseline is also a major driver of enrolment.
Two data rules matter. First, a day with no diary entry is missing, not event-free; event rates should be calculated over days with data, with a minimum number of diary days per period. Second, event definitions must be fixed: what counts as a separate seizure or a migraine day, and how seizure types are classified. Put the definitions in participant training and in the diary's help text, and keep them unchanged for the whole study.
Alongside change in frequency, these trials commonly report the proportion of participants with at least a 50% reduction from baseline. Complete baseline data is essential for that calculation; see MCID for how meaningful change thresholds are chosen.
Study build
What counts as an event, how types are classified and how missing days are handled.
Diary running long enough before randomisation to establish a stable baseline.
Certification for rater scales and a plan for rater continuity.
C-SSRS at every visit where the protocol requires it.
For each licensed scale, on the form itself.
For participants who cannot complete diaries themselves.
They combine clinician rating scales, timed performance tests and home diaries, often over long follow-up, and many CNS-active drugs require prospective suicidality assessment.
Yes. Diaries run in the phone browser from a secure link, with daily completion windows and reminders. Caregivers can complete them where needed.
As site forms with one field per item and range checks, with every value attributed to the rater in the audit trail. Obtain the scales and any licences from their rights holders.
Yes. Build the diary with each interval as a structured field so ON and OFF time can be summed in analysis.
Yes. Forms stay identical across sites, amendments apply everywhere at once and the audit trail spans the whole study.
Yes. The free sandbox has every feature with no credit card.
Keep exploring
EDC for Alzheimer's trials
Dementia and cognition.
EDC for psychiatry trials
Rating scales in psychiatry.
EDC for sleep disorder trials
Sleep medicine.
C-SSRS eCRF template
Suicidality assessment.
Rehabilitation research software
Stroke and neuro rehab outcomes.
EDC for rare disease trials
Rare neurological diseases.
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