Risk of Falling and Cardiac Rehabilitation

NCT06908759 · Status: RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 150

Last updated 2025-04-03

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Background and Rationale Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is a key intervention for patients with chronic heart disease or recent acute cardiovascular events. In elderly and frail patients, CR aims not only to improve functional capacity but also to maintain or recover independence in daily activities. Hospitalization following an acute event often leads to bed rest, which-even after just 2-3 days-can cause hypokinetic syndrome, characterized by loss of muscle tone, orthostatic hypotension, decreased mobility, and psychological decline, including depression. Moreover, immobility increases thrombotic risk and vascular complications.

To mitigate these effects, CR is initiated promptly after clinical stabilization and includes three phases:

1. Phase I - In-hospital rehabilitation
2. Phase II - Early outpatient rehabilitation
3. Phase III - Long-term maintenance Elderly patients are particularly vulnerable to falls due to the combined effects of reduced muscle strength, orthostatic hypotension, cognitive decline, and pre-existing sarcopenia-often exacerbated by acute events and immobility. Approximately 60% of cardiac patients hospitalized for acute events present with moderate-to-high fall risk. Fall risk in this population is multifactorial, involving cardiovascular issues (e.g., arrhythmias, orthostatic hypotension), medication effects, and non-cardiac factors such as vision loss, balance impairment, neuromuscular conditions, and cognitive deficits.

Conditions

Interventions

OTHER

EXERCISE TRAINING WITH OR WITHOUT MEDICATION

In the first phase of the study all enrolled patients will perform exercise in the context of an in-hospital intesive rehabilitation after the acute event. At discharge they will be randomized in two groups: supervised exercise in the context of a cardiac rehabilitation facility or home-based exercise

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • IRCCS San Raffaele Roma

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
65 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2024-05-31
Primary Completion
2025-05-30
Completion
2025-06-30

Countries

  • Italy

Study Locations

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Entities

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT06908759 on ClinicalTrials.gov