There are about 3753 clinical studies being (or have been) conducted in Hong Kong. The country of the clinical trial is determined by the location of where the clinical research is being studied. Most studies are often held in multiple locations & countries.
COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus, causing millions of deaths around the globe since the beginning of the pandemic. COVID-19 vaccination was proven to be effective at reducing both mortality and development of severe COVID-19 after infection. Vaccine-elicited protection is particularly important for immunocompromised patients, as they are more susceptible to infections with their defective immune response, for instance, previous review had suggested that patients with malignancies and recipients of solid organ transplants may be at increased risk of developing severe COVID-19 disease and even death. To further complicate the scenario, there are two obstacles: firstly, immunocompromised individuals may have suboptimal response from vaccinations, as studies have shown that recipients of solid organ transplant have suboptimal or even are seronegative after the fourth dose booster vaccination . Secondly, with constant mutation of the SARS-CoV-2 viruses, new variants evolve over time, leading to reduction in vaccine efficacy and breakthrough infection in healthy individuals. Therefore, novel vaccine strategy should be considered to enhance the vaccine response in these immunocompromised individuals. In this study, intradermal injection instead of intramuscular injection for vaccine delivery is proposed, as the investigators have observed improved immunogenicity and few adverse events from previous experience of influenza vaccination. The study aims to evaluate the immunogenicity, safety and tolerability of intradermal COVID-19 vaccination in immunocompromised patients.
Sarcopenic obesity (SO) has synergistic detrimental effects on elderlies' health. It greatly increases the risk of cardio-metabolic diseases, physical impairment, institutionalization, and mortality when compared with sarcopenia or obesity alone. Effective interventions to simultaneously increase muscle mass and decrease fat mass are challenging but highly warranted. Research showed that exercise tends to produce better outcomes in SO than nutritional interventions. Inconsistent effects of nutritional interventions may be due to a short intervention duration and participants' poor compliance with nutritional advice. Participants' adherence to a dietary regimen is essential to the success of nutritional interventions. Behavior change techniques grounded in a tested effective theoretical model - the Health Action Process Approach [HAPA] model at improving participants' self-efficacy should be incorporated in a diet modification intervention.This project aims to investigate the effects of a HAPA-based individualized dietary behavior change (IDBC) intervention and exercise training, in combination and separately, for elderly with SO, to improve their body composition and physical functions. In this four-armed randomized controlled trial, investigators will recruit and randomize 380 elderly with SO to one of the following four groups: the combined (COMB) group, receiving the 24-week combined intervention consisting of the IDBC program and exercise training, the EXER-only group, receiving only the exercise training, the IDBC-only group, receiving a combination of the IDBC program and health talks, and the control group, receiving only health talks with no other intervention. Investigators will use health talks to control the group and social interaction effects of the group exercise training for the COMB and the EXER-only groups. Investigators hypothesize that participants in the COMB, EXER-only, and IDBC-only groups will have significantly better outcome measures middle of the intervention (T1), immediately (T2), at 3-months (T3), and 6-months (T4) post-intervention than those in the control group when compared to baseline (T0). Investigators will use mixed-effects modeling to compare changes in all outcome variables at the three post-tests among the four groups. If our intervention is effective at mitigating or preventing such occurrences, the impact on public health will be significant. A similar intervention for other populations.
This is a 12-month longitudinal randomized controlled trial aiming to evaluate the effect of colour temperature of reading lamp on refractive error development.
The goal of this pilot clinical trial is to determine the feasibility of conducting a fully powered type 1 hybrid effectiveness-implementation trial on early sepsis care that is guided by early warning score in adult emergency department (ED) patients who have infection. The main questions it aims to answer are: - Is it feasible to execute the trial procedure and fulfill the progression criteria to a full-scale trial? - Does the Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) Hour-1 Bundle care reduce the mortality of adult ED patients with a clinical diagnosis of infection and a National Early Warning Score 2 (NEWS2) equal to or greater than 5? - What are the barriers to and facilitators of the implementation of the SSC Hour-1 Bundle in the ED settings? Participants will receive the following SSC Hour-1 Bundle care during the intervention period: - Blood lactate level measurement - Blood cultures collection before administering antibiotics - Broad-spectrum antibiotics - Intravenous fluid - Vasopressors if the blood pressure remains low during or after fluid replacement to maintain the mean arterial blood pressure equal to or greater than 65 mmHg Researchers will compare patients who receive SSC Hour-1 Bundle triggered by a NEWS2 equal to or greater than 5 and patients who receive standard treatment based on clinical judgement to see if the SSC Hour-1 that is triggered by a high NEWS2 score could reduce mortality of adult ED patients with infection.
This is a prospective follow-up study conducted at the Department of Psychiatry, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. The participants, including high-performing elderly (SuperAgers), normal ageing elderly and neurocognitive disorder (NCD) patients will be re-invited from our previous cohort (2013-2014) (N=488).
Patients with Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) experience gradually deteriorating lung function, which may be complicated by acute exacerbations. N- acetylcysteine (NAC) is frequently used in patients with COPD as a mucolytic. Besides its mucolytic effects, high-dose NAC has additional benefits in patients with stable COPD, including improving lung function and reducing exacerbations. Studies on the dose-dependent effects of NAC in COPD patients showed a high dose of NAC was needed to achieve its antioxidant effects and clinical benefits in COPD patients, whereas a dose of 600 mg once daily was not able to increase glutathione levels. According to a study conducted in Hong Kong on patients with stable COPD, 1 year of treatment with high-dose NAC at 600 mg twice daily improved small airways function in terms of forced expiratory flow and forced oscillation technique, and also significantly reduced exacerbation frequency with a decreasing trend in admission rate. In a meta-analysis, patients treated with NAC had significantly and consistently fewer exacerbations of COPD. The role of NAC was examined in a Delphi consensus study involving 53 COPD experts from 12 countries. Respondents agreed that regular treatment with mucolytic agents could effectively decrease the frequency of exacerbations and the duration of mild-to-moderate exacerbations, while delaying the time to first exacerbation and increasing symptom-free time in COPD patients. The panel also approved the doses of NAC with favourable side effect profiles to be recommended for regular use in patients with a bronchitic phenotype. However, there have been conflicting results regarding the efficacy of NAC for treating acute exacerbation of COPD. NAC has not been included as an adjunct for the treatment of COPD exacerbation in international guidelines. As NAC is relatively low cost, readily available, and has a favourable side effect profile as a treatment for COPD exacerbation, it is important to properly assess the clinical benefits of NAC as an adjunct to standard medical treatments to hasten recovery. This study is a double-blind randomised controlled trial on NAC as an adjunctive treatment for acute COPD exacerbation. It will assess the role of NAC in the treatment of acute COPD exacerbation.
Background: Stroke is the second leading cause of death and disability worldwide and in Hong Kong, 6.2% of all registered deaths in 2020 were due to cerebrovascular disease. Exercise training has the potential to improve the deconditioned hemodynamic, motor, and cognitive functions associated with stroke. Purpose: The proposed study seeks to investigate the effects of AET on the large intracranial and extracranial cerebral arteries' morphological and haemodynamic features and the cognitive and motor functions in post-stroke chronic patients. Additionally, the study seeks to compare the cerebral arteries' features between post-stroke patients and age-matched controls without stroke. Furthermore, the project seeks to assess the association between the cerebrovascular system changes and the cognitive and motor function changes in post-stroke patients undergoing AET. Study Design: A Randomised controlled trial (RCT) in which the post-stroke patients will be randomly assigned into three groups consisting of a control group and two AET interventional groups (treadmill and cycle ergometer). Each group will target sample size of 20 participants. The target dosage for the two AET modes will consist of 1.) a session duration=30mins, 2.) frequency=3times/week, 3.) high intensity=(60-84% heart rate reserve (HHR).4.) Types=Treadmill and cycle ergometer 5.) overall program duration=3months. Data collection methods: Quantitative data on the cerebral arteries' haemodynamic and morphological features will be assessed using duplex carotid ultrasound (DCUS) and transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasound techniques. Montreal cognitive assessment (HK) version and six-minute walk test (6MWT) will assess cognitive and motor functions respectively. The data will be assessed at three time periods of during the 3 months AET program Significance of the study: The study has the potential to inform the clinical decision making process on the usefulness of AET in improving post-stroke chronic patients. Results on associations will provide a basis for future work in chronic stroke Rehabilitation functional outcome prediction models based on DCUS and TCD ultrasound imaging techniques.
The objective of this proposed pilot randomized controlled trial is to examine the efficacy and acceptability of using smartphone-delivered ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and personalized telephone support to promote adherence to a 6-week group-based exercise intervention for improving depressive symptoms. Prior to all study procedures, eligible participants are required to complete an online informed consent via an in-house smartphone application, Longitudinax Pro. Around 60 eligible participants aged 18-65 years old with Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) total score ≥10 (Kroenke et al., 2001) and International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) total score <600 MET/week (Lai et al., 2018; Macfarlane et al., 2007) will be randomly assigned to either 1) group-based exercise intervention with EMA and personalized telephone support (SUP), 2) group-based exercise intervention (EXE), or no intervention control group (CON) in a ratio of 1:1:1. The randomization will be performed by an independent assessor using a computer-generated list of numbers. The SUP and EXE groups will participate in a 6-week group-based exercise intervention. The intervention includes three biweekly group-based exercise sessions lasting for 120 minutes each (i.e., Week 1, 3, and 5). In addition, participants in the SUP will receive daily smartphone-delivered EMAs throughout the intervention period (i.e., 6-week) and 15-minute personalized telephone support delivered by a research personnel in Week 2, 4, and 6, respectively. Participants in the CON group will not be given any intervention during the study period but will be advised to remain their typical lifestyle throughout the trial period. The primary outcome of interest include depressive symptoms as measured by PHQ-9. The secondary outcomes will include anxiety symptoms, perceived insomnia severity, quality of life, functional impairment, and intervention evaluation at immediate post-intervention (Week 7) and 3-month follow-up assessments (Week 19).
The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether milvexian compared to placebo reduce the risk of recurrent ischemic stroke.
Cardiovascular prevention guidelines use estimated 10-year atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk to guide treatment decisions and engage patients in shared decision-making. Research has focused on refining the accuracy of these CV risk calculators for different populations, relatively little has been done to understand how patients perceive their own ASCVD risk. Accurate perception of a patient's risk by both the patient and the doctors is important because this is an important determinant of health-related behaviour. Patients often show optimistic bias when considering their own CV risk and consistently underestimate it. We aim to determine patient perceived versus actual risk of ASCVD in a Chinese population. We aim to better understand the degree to which patients underestimate or overestimate their ASCVD risk and whether patients are better or worse at estimating their ASCVD risk relative to their peers of the same age and sex. Finally, we aim to evaluate patients willingness to follow guideline recommended CV prevention and specifically lipid-lowering therapy.