View clinical trials related to Heart Diseases.
Filter by:The aim of this study is to examine the cardiovascular effects of ultramarathon running and their relation to performance.
Background: Cardiac rehabilitation is indicated for ischemic heart disease patients; the program content of which is well described in both European and American guidelines. In contrast, literature on cardiac rehabilitation program content and efficacy in the Asian population is sparse. Methods: BeSingCardioRehab will be an intercontinental, retrospective cohort study conducted in two cardiac rehabilitation referral centers in Belgium and Singapore. The first aim is to compare the impact of phase II center-based cardiac rehabilitation on Major Adverse Cardiac Events for ischemic heart disease patients between Europe (i.e. Belgian) and Asia (i.e. Singaporean) in the long-term. The second objective is to compare the efficacy of phase II cardiac rehabilitation on short-term morbidity (assessed with the validated SMART Risk Score) between index European and Asian ischemic heart disease patients. The level of compliance of the Belgian and Singaporean cardiac rehabilitation programs to European guidelines standards will also be evaluated. Hypotheses BeSingCardiorehab will be one of the first studies assessing cardiac rehabilitation in Asia. Based on the BeSingCardioRehab study results, phase II center-based cardiac rehabilitation programs, can/will be adapted in order to improve program content and outcomes.
Patients who have just experienced a first major cardiac event are at risk of experiencing heightened negative emotions, which further negatively impact self-management of health behaviors. For those patients in phase II cardiac rehabilitation, there is an opportunity to address physical and emotional wellbeing to optimize self-management of diet and exercise. This study will pilot test an intervention aimed at improving these patients' abilities to regulate their emotions as a mechanism to minimize psychological distress and improve self-management of diet and exercise, as well as improve quality of life. This innovative pilot will generate knowledge about the impact of emotion regulation in first event cardiac rehabilitation patients.
The study looks to learn more about the helpfulness of web-based transition education and its effect on transition readiness and health service utilization in the adolescent and young adult congenital heart disease population.
This is a prospective, non-randomized, open label, multi-center study including 60 patients with symptomatic ischemic heart disease with 70%-100% coronary artery stenoses and occlusions enrolled and treated in this investigational device study.
Most patients with complex congenital heart disease and cardiomyopathy from acquired heart disease have reduced exercise capacity. Exercise capacity is associated with respiratory muscle strength and function. If structured respiratory muscle training positively influences respiratory muscle function in patients with structural heart disease is not well known. The aim of this study is to investigate whether regular singing lessons and breathing exercises improve respiratory muscle strength in patients with congenital or acquired structural heart disease.
Cardiac computed tomography (CCT) is one of the standard non-invasive imaging techniques allowing imaging of the heart and coronary arteries with a high temporal and spatial resolution. The high sensitivity and negative predictive value (NPV) of coronary CT angiography (CCTA) make it a valuable tool in the assessment of coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients with low to intermediate risk for CAD, especially to rule out CAD. This risk stratification can be done with help of multiple different risk-calculators (e.g. the updated Diamond-Forrester model by Genders et al. 2012). These calculators take different variables into account, e.g. advanced age, gender, blood pressure, diabetes mellitus (DM), lipid profile and smoking. The aim of CCTA is a high diagnostic accuracy, which depends on both optimal intravascular enhancement (in Hounsfield Units; minimal 325 HU) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR). Optimal intravascular enhancement and CNR depend on different factors such as scan technique (e.g. tube voltage, tube potential), parameters of the administered contrast material (CM) and patient related factors (e.g. cardiac output (CO), body weight (BW)). Patients with cardiac diseases often have multiple risk factors for developing contrast induced nephropathy (CIN), e.g. diabetes mellitus, advanced age, hypertension and chronic kidney disease. Although the relationship between CTA and CIN has recently come to discussion (AMACING trial; Nijssen et al. 2017), it is still desirable to minimise the CM volume used in these patients. One method to reduce the CM volume is to personalise the injection protocols. The personalisation of injection protocols to the individual patient is gaining more attention in the field of CT imaging. The goal is to individualise the injection protocols to a level, where the patient only receives the minimal amount of CM needed to acquire a diagnostic scan, while maintaining a diagnostic image quality. Many techniques are available and have been studied, e.g. adjustment of CM volume to scan protocol, CO, lean body weight (LBW) and BW. However, no data is available on which of these is the most beneficial method for the personalisation of CM injection protocols. Therefore, the aim of this study is to assess the performance of three different personalized injection protocols (based on CO, LBW and BW) in CCTA with regard to image quality in comparison to previously used protocols in our department. We hypothesize that the personalized injection protocols will be non-inferior, provide a homogenous coronary enhancement (less non-diagnostic scans) in patients, and will account for a reduction of CM volume in our department in comparison to the previously used protocols.
This study aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of a newly developed FFQ specified for northern Chinese CHD and their high risk patients (CHD-FFQ). The psychometric properties include test-retest reliability, content validity, convergent validity, discriminant validity, concurrent validity and predictive validity. Particularly, this study will measure the physiological indicators, including plasma lipid profile (i.e. TG, TC, HDL-C, LDL-C), BG, BP and BMI twice at baseline and the end. The level of these physiological indicators will be compared with the fat intake measured by the CHD-FFQ, i.e. the baseline intake to test its convergent validity. It is also expected to predict the diet-related progression of CHD risks among high-risk individuals, i.e. patients with two or more CHD risk factors as following: raised fasting blood glucose (BG) level, increased blood pressure (BP), increased triglycerides (TG), decreased HDL-Cholesterol (HDL-C), increased LDL-Cholesterol (LDL-C), smoking and central obesity (International Diabetes Federation, 2015). In addition, this study will provide the FFQ's concurrent validity in assessing the intake of energy and nutrients against the CDC-FFQ. Moreover, whether the FFQ could detect the known differences in energy intake between men and women will be established for its discriminant validity.
The objective of this study is to determine whether sternal reconstruction using the ZIPFIX system compared to standard wire cerclage could improve bone healing, patient function, and decreased postoperative pain.
Women with heart disease are more likely to die or suffer another cardiac event or stroke within 5 years of an index event compared to men. They are also more likely to suffer depression and report lower quality of life. Cardiac Rehabilitation programs have been designed to address these issues, but most women do not attend. Women indicate they have a greater need to talk about their experiences with heart disease and seek social support to help them cope. Peer support, the assistance provided by other women with a similar illness experience, may be one way to enhance social support for women with heart disease and help them improve their psychosocial well-being. The Investigators have developed a peer support program called Women@Heart (W@H). The program is led by trained peer leaders (women who themselves have made a successful recovery from a heart event). A pilot test of the program showed promising results. The Investigators now need to conduct a more rigorous evaluation of the program. The main objective of this project is to determine if the W@H program helps women to improve their psychosocial well-being compared to being on a waiting list to participate in the program. It will also examine the effect of the program on: health behaviours (tobacco smoking, physical activity, sedentary behaviour, fruit and vegetable consumption, and medication adherence); coronary risk factors; and clinical outcomes (re-hospitalization, health care system use, death).