High Intensity Exercise for Increasing Fitness in Patients With Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Summary

Although current clinical guidelines stipulate that patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy should not partake in high intensity exercise (HIE) or competitive sport due to safety concerns, there is no clear evidence to support this notion. In fact, two exercise training interventions in this population indicates that regular moderate to vigorous intensity exercise is efficacious for improving exercise capacity and cardiorespiratory fitness, and does not increase arrhythmia burden or adverse events. Moreover, moderate intensity exercise and HIE training significantly increases cardiorespiratory fitness in patients with cardiac disease. Such improvements are associated with substantial reductions in cardiovascular mortality and might outweigh the risk of adverse events in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Having a genetic cardiomyopathy does not grant immunity against lifestyle related cardiometabolic diseases and inactivity is rife in HCM patients likely due to misinformation/education. It is therefore paramount to further explore the benefits of regular moderate intensity exercise and HIE in patients with HCM for proper therapeutic management of the condition.

Conditions

• Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

High intensity exercise

The exercise groups will receive identical exercise prescription for the first two months of the intervention, after which the HIE group will incorporate HIIT in their exercise regimen. The reason for this approach is to include a period of general conditioning and progressively increase intensity prior to submitting volunteers to HIE. This approach considers participant safety as arrhythmias may be uncovered during the first two months of MIE training. It will also improve participant compliance by increasing exercise self-efficacy and confidence prior to commencing HIIT.

BEHAVIORAL

Moderate intensity exercise

A training program will be developed individually for each subject with the goal of increasing duration and intensity consistent with exercise training principles. Workouts will vary with respect to mode (walk, cycle) and duration (30 - 60 minutes). Each subject will be assigned an exercise physiologist and a heart rate monitor so that each session can be tracked and recorded. The first few exercise training sessions in both exercise groups (MIE and HIE) will supervised at our hospital based fitness centre until the subject is confident to complete the training independently.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Biotronik SE & Co. KG

  collaborator INDUSTRY

• American College of Sports Medicine

  collaborator OTHER

• American Heart Association

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Benjamin D Levine, MD · University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

80 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2018-01-31

Primary Completion

2022-07-26

Completion

2022-12-20

Countries

• United States

Study Locations