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EXercise InTervention in Heart Failure

EXercise InTervention in Heart Failure (EXIT-HF): a Randomized Controlled Trial

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT04334603
Acronym
EXIT-HF
Enrollment
120
Registered
2020-04-06
Start date
2019-11-01
Completion date
2022-12-30
Last updated
2023-02-23

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Heart Failure

Keywords

Heart failure, Home-based exercise, Maximal oxygen consumption, Cost-effectiveness

Brief summary

This is a pragmatic, non-inferiority clinical trial, enrolling heart failure patients who will be randomized to a 12-week exercise training program either centre-based or home-based with telemonitoring. The impact of this intervention will be assessed on established surrogate markers in HF such as maximal exercise capacity, plasma biomarkers and quality of life. The cost-effectiveness and overall satisfaction with the treatment will also be studied. In addition to measure the clinical and economic impact of this innovative way of delivering exercise, it is intended to unravel new molecular pathways and assess a pool of biomarkers that provide a wide mechanistic picture underlying the clinical effects of exercise.

Interventions

The 12-week exercise-training program will include two sessions of combined exercise training per week, performed at the hospital or at home.

Sponsors

Universidade do Porto
CollaboratorOTHER
Aveiro University
CollaboratorOTHER
Centro Hospitalar do Porto
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE (Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

1. Diagnosis of HFrEF and HFpEF according to criteria of the European Society of Cardiology (2016) 2. Clinical stability for ≥ 6 weeks 3. Optimal medical treatment for ≥ 6 weeks 4. Patients that are able to understand and follow the exercise prescription 5. Written informed consent

Exclusion criteria

1. Patients who have undertaken cardiac rehabilitation within the past 12 months 2. Patients who have received an intracardiac defibrillator (ICD), Cardiac 3. Resynchronisation therapy (CRT) or combined CRT/ICD device implanted in the last 6 weeks 3. Inability to exercise or conditions that may interfere with exercise intervention 4. Signs of ischemia during cardiopulmonary exercise test 5. Comorbidity that may influence one-year prognosis 6. Symptomatic and/or exercise induced cardiac arrhythmia or conduction disturbances 7. Currently pregnant or intend to become pregnant in the next year 8. Expectation of receiving a cardiac transplant in the next 6 months 9. Participation in another clinical trial 10. Patients who are unable to understand the study information or unable to complete the outcome questionnaires

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Peak oxygen uptake (ml/kg/min)Change from baseline in peak oxygen uptake (ml/kg/min) at 3 monthsPatients will be submitted to cardiopulmonary treadmill exercise tests at baseline and after 3 moths

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
6-min walk test (6MWT) distanceChange from baseline to 3 months, and to 12 months.Changes in distance from the 6MWT.
Health status (EQ-5D-5L)Change from baseline to 3 months, and to 12 months.Health status will be evaluated by the 5-level EQ-5D version (EQ-5D-5L) questionnaire. The questionnaire comprises five dimensions, each describing a different aspect of health (mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression). Each dimension has five response levels of severity which range from 0 (no problems) to 5 (extreme problems/ unable to do). In addition, there is a score of overall health range from 0 to 100%.
Health-related quality of life (MLHFQ)Change from baseline to 3 months, and to 12 months.Health-related quality of life will be evaluated by the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ). The MLHFQ is composed of 21 questions rated on a scale from 0 (no effect) to 5 (very much). The questionnaire is scored by summation of all 21 responses, where higher scores indicate worse quality of life.
Anxiety and Depression (HADS)Change from baseline to 3 months, and to 12 months.Anxiety and Depression will be evaluated by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). The questionnaire is composed of 14 questions on a four-point (0-3) scale. The possible scores ranged from 0 to 21 for anxiety and 0 to 21 for depression. A score of 0 to 7 for either subscale will be regarded as being in the normal range, a score of 11 or higher indicating probable presence of the mood disorder and a score of 8 to 10 being just suggestive of the presence of the respective state.
DisutilityEvaluate at 3th monthIndividual disutility (inconvenience) perceived by patients and respective quality of life gains. Longevity to offset the exercise program disutility will be expressed in days.
Physical activity (steps/day)Change from baseline to 3 months, and to 12 months.Physical activity will be assessed by a POLAR-M200 device with the numbers of daily steps.
Daily physical activity levels (min/day)Change from baseline to 3 months, and to 12 months.Daily physical activity levels it will be measure with a POLAR-M200 device. Measures will be described as time spend in light physical activity, moderate and vigorous physical activity, and spend sitting or lying (minutes per day).
DyspneaChange from baseline to 3 months, and to 12 months.Dyspnea will be evaluated by the Dyspnea-12 (D-12) questionnaire. The D-12 consists of 12 descriptor items on a scale of none (0), mild (1), moderate (2), or severe (3). It provides an overall score for breathlessness severity that incorporates seven physical items and five affective items. Total scores from the D-12 range from 0 to 36, with higher scores corresponding to greater severity.
Hand grip strengthChange from baseline to to 3 and to 12 months.Hand grip strength will be assessed by Jamar dynamometer (kg)
Circulating number of endothelial progenitor cells, circulating endothelial cells, nitric oxide and endothelial Nitric Oxide SynthaseChange from baseline to 3 monthsThese markers will inform endothelial function, damage and repair
Biomarkers (pg/ml)Change from baseline to 3 monthsNTproBNP and ST2 (pg/ml)
Biomarkers (mg/L)Change from baseline to 3 monthshsCRP and Troponin (mg/L)
Concentration of plasma exosomesChange from baseline to 3 monthsPlasma exosomes will be isolated using microbead-based sorting techniques and characterized by nanoparticle tracking analysis, Western blot, and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction assessments
Percentage of protein aggregatesChange from baseline to 3 monthsProtein aggregates (%) will be analysed using a diagonal two-dimensional (D2D) SDS-PAGE assay with mass spectrometry to identify and characterize detergent-resistant protein aggregates in plasma pre-cleared from albumin and immunoglobulin.
Cost-effectiveness of home-based exercise Vs. clinical-base exerciseAt 12th monthCompare cost effectiveness analysis of home-based exercise Vs. clinical-base exercise. The main outcome measure for this study will be cost per quality adjusted life year (QALY)
Physical fitness levels evaluationChange from baseline to 3 and to 12 months.Physical fitness levels will be evaluated by the Senior Fitness test
Mediterranean dietChange from baseline to 3 months, and to 12 months.Adherence to Mediterranean diet will be evaluated by the 14-Item Mediterranean Diet Assessment Tool (MEDAS-14). The answer to each of the 14 items is scored with 1 in the case of meeting the criteria defined as typical of this type of food (range of possible variation 0-14 points). A total score ≥10 as represent a good adherence to the Mediterranean diet.

Other

MeasureTime frameDescription
Exploratory analyses of urine proteomeChange from baseline to 3 monthsExploratory analyses in urine protein will be performed to identify novel biomarkers predictive of exercise training therapeutic response. Urine of 10 patients from each group will be analyzed using a proteomic approach combining one-dimensional gel electrophoresis with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GeLC-MS/MS). Generated proteomic data will be analyzed with bioinformatic tools to reveal possible biomarkers of interest, that will be further validated by immuno-approaches such as ELISA or immunoblot.

Countries

Portugal

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 6, 2026