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Prehab and Creatine/Whey Supplementation in Frailty Among Patients With Cirrhosis

Physical Prehabilitation With and Without Creatine/Whey Protein Supplementation Effects on Frailty In Patients With Cirrhosis

Status
Not yet recruiting
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT07029243
Enrollment
100
Registered
2025-06-19
Start date
2026-04-01
Completion date
2026-12-01
Last updated
2026-03-06

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

Conditions

Cirrhosis, Frailty, Sarcopenia

Keywords

cirrhosis, liver, muscle, creatine, whey protein, frailty

Brief summary

Frailty and muscle health are important for patients with chronic liver disease. This study looks at the use of a digital prehabilitation app (HEAL-ME) plus creatine and whey protein combination supplementation on maintaining muscle health in patients with liver disease. The investigators anticipate that this combination of supplementation and nutrition/exercise prehabilitation app will maintain muscle health in patients with liver disease.

Interventions

Patients will take 35g whey protein supplementation daily

BEHAVIORALHEAL-ME digital app

HEAL-ME is a digital prehabilitation app that provides semi-guided nutrition/exercise prehabilitation

DIETARY_SUPPLEMENTCreatine supplementation

Patients will take 5g creatine supplementation daily for 13 weeks

DIETARY_SUPPLEMENTPlacebo

Patients will be administered daily placebo supplementation.

Sponsors

University of California, San Francisco
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
QUADRUPLE (Subject, Caregiver, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

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

Inclusion criteria

* Confirmed diagnosis of cirrhosis by ICD-10 code, liver biopsy, abdominal imaging, or transient elastography * Access to digital device and internet at home * Ability to provide written informed consent before any study-related activities * Ability to remain in study for at least 3 months

Exclusion criteria

* Allergy to milk protein * On hemodialysis * No English language proficiency * Presence of condition or abnormality that in opinion of the Investigator will compromise safety of the patient or quality of the data * Concomitant severe underlying systemic illness that in the opinion of the Investigator would interfere with completion of study * Pregnant, breastfeeding, or intention of becoming pregnant during study time frame

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
FrailtyFrom enrollment to end of study at 12 weeksFrailty will be used to assess muscle quality. The liver frailty index (LFI) includes the measurement of grip strength, chair stands, and balance. The Liver Fraity Index typically ranges from 1.0 to 5.0 with the following cut-offs: Robust is Liver Frailty Index \<3.2, Pre-frail is Liver Frailty Index between 3.2 and 4.4, and Frail is Liver frailty Index ≥4.4. We will use the previously identified cut-off of ≥4.4 (frail) vs. \<4.4 (not frail) to identify frailty in this study.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Feasibility: Completion RateFrom study enrollment to end of study at 12 weeksCompletion rate will be assessed by study coordinators. Study coordinators will identify patients who do or do not complete the study during check-ins. Reasons for dropping out of the study will be recorded by study coordinators.
Health-related quality of life (HRQOL)From enrollment to end of study at 12 weeksThe Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS)-29 v 2.0 is a NIH-supported effort to develop and disseminate patient-reported measures of HRQOL that has built-in normative reference to the US general population. The PROMIS-29 v2.0 will be used to assess HRQOL. A score ≤25 has been used to define the 25th percentile value for the general population and has previously been used in our studies to be considered poor HRQOL.
Self-Reported Physical ActivityFrom enrollment to end of study at 12 weeksThe Duke Activity Status Index (DASI) will be used to measure self-reported physical activity. The DASI questionnaire provides a score from 0 to 58.2 with higher scores indicating better functional status and lower score indicating worse functional status. DASI will be measured as a continuous variable
SarcopeniaFrom enrollment to end of study at 12 weeksSarcopenia will be measured by abdominal computed tomography (CT) scan measured CT-quantified skeletal muscle index (skeletal muscle index (SMI) \<50 cm2/m2 for men and \<39 cm2/m2 for women). We have previously demonstrated that CT-quantified sarcopenia is associated with worse outcomes in patients with cirrhosis.
Feasibility: Adherence RateFrom study enrollment to end of study at 12 weeksAdherence rate will be assessed by study coordinators at each check-in. Adherence rate will include total adherence to the study protocol, adherence to supplement/placebo, and adherence to HEAL-ME activities.
Feasibility: Patient SatisfactionFrom study enrollment to end of study at 12 weeksPatient satisfaction will be assessed by study coordinators at the end of the study. Patient satisfaction will be reported as a scalar variable from 0 to 5.

Countries

United States

Contacts

CONTACTMelinda Wang, MD, MHS
melinda.wang3@ucsf.edu415-476-2777
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORJennifer Lai, MD, MBA

University of California, San Francisco

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Mar 7, 2026