NCT02516293

Cardiac Rehabilitation in Chagas Heart Failure

Cardiac Rehabilitation Program in Patients With Chagas Heart Failure: a Pilot Study

• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 2 / Phase 3
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 12 (actual)
• Sponsor: Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Disease · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Due to the lack of information in the literature about the role of cardiac rehabilitation on Chagas heart failure, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of a cardiac exercise program on functional capacity, cardiac function, respiratory muscle strength, body composition, biomarkers and quality of life among Chagas heart failure patients.

Detailed description

The present study consisted in a pre/post single-arm intervention study conducted at the Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Disease (INI), located on Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. INI is a national reference center for treatment and research in infectious diseases and tropical medicine in Brazil, which follows a large cohort of patients with Chagas disease, all of them diagnosed by two simultaneously positive serological tests (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and indirect immunofluorescence). Patients included in the study were submitted to a physical exercise intervention protocol performed three times per week, 60 minutes per session, during an 8-month period. Nutritional and pharmaceutical counseling were also monthly provided during the follow-up and consisted on general guidance about adequate eating habits for patients with heart failure, mainly sodium and water intake, and medication usage, particularly drug dosage and compliance.Patients included in the study were followed during an 8-month period in which evaluations of functional capacity (maximal progressive cardiopulmonary exercise test), muscle respiratory strength (manovacuometry) and body composition (anthropometry and skinfolds) were performed at baseline, after four months and at the end of follow-up. Assessments of cardiac function (bidimensional echocardiography), biomarkers (lipid profile, glucose and glycated hemoglobin) and quality of life (Minnesota Living with Heart Failure questionnaire) were taken at baseline and after eight months of follow-up.

Conditions

• Chagas Disease
• Chagas Cardiomyopathy

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Exercise, nutritional and pharmaceutical counseling	Physical exercise intervention protocol was performed three times per week, 60 minutes per session, during 8 months. Exercise sessions consisted of 30 minutes of aerobic exercise on a treadmill or on a cycle ergometer, 20 minutes of strength exercises for the major muscle groups (sit-ups, push-ups, and pull-ups), and 10 minutes of stretching exercises. Nutritional and pharmaceutical consisted on general guidance about adequate eating habits for patients with heart failure, mainly sodium and water intake, and medication usage, particularly drug dosage and compliance.

Timeline

• Start date: 2013-05-01
• Primary completion: 2014-01-01
• Completion: 2014-12-01
• First posted: 2015-08-05
• Last updated: 2015-08-05

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Brazil