Hospital Versus Home Based Exercise in Patients With Chronic Stable Heart Failure

Summary

The objective of this study is to compare the effect of monitored, home-based exercise versus hospital-based exercise on the quality of life of patients with congestive heart failure. Secondary objectives are to assess the effect of the intervention on exercise capacity and caregiver burden.

The investigators hypothesize that the exercise training in the home-based environment will be superior to hospital based exercise training.

Conditions

• Congestive Heart Failure

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Home-based exercise training

Participants in the home-based group will be advised to exercise, a minimum of 3 times per week, but will be encouraged to exercise a total of 5-7 days per week as per CACR and ACSM guidelines. Prescriptions will include the same elements of those for the hospital group: * 5-10 min warm-up * 30 min aerobic interval training (walking or stationary bicycle) * 10 min cool-down Home-based participants will be asked to record their exercise in an exercise log book and will receive bi-weekly telephone calls from exercise personnel to monitor progress, assess and document adherence, revise the exercise prescription if necessary and provide support and education. Patient safety will be monitored during each call and serious health concerns will be relayed, with the patient's permission, to their primary health provider. Patients in this group will be encouraged to call the exercise specialist or kinesiologist with concerns or questions throughout the study.

BEHAVIORAL

Supervised hospital-based exercise training

Patients in the hospital-based group will participate in supervised, on-site, group exercise sessions 3 times per week, but will be encouraged to exercise a total of 5-7 days per week as per CACR and ACSM guidelines. Trained exercise personnel (kinesiologists and exercise specialists) will supervise these sessions. Exercise sessions will include: * 5-10 min of warm-up * 30 min of aerobic interval training using stationary cycles, treadmills and arm ergometers * 10 min of cool down Exercise will be tracked by the participant in exercise log books.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario

  collaborator OTHER

• Hamilton Health Sciences Corporation

  collaborator OTHER

• McMaster University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Heather M Arthur, PhD · Hamilton Health Sciences Corporation

• Robert S McKelvie, MD, PhD · Hamilton Health Sciences Corporation

• Jennifer Kodis, MA · Hamilton Health Scienes

• Kevin Thorpe, MSc · University of Toronto

• Catherine Demers, MD, MSc · Hamilton Health Sciences Corporation

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2003-07-31

Primary Completion

2006-06-30

Completion

2007-11-30

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations