Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Strategies for High-risk Urban Sedentary Employees in Karachi, Pakistan

Summary

Heart diseases and other non-communicable diseases are serious health issues in countries like Pakistan. Many people who work in offices, like bank employees, sit for more than 8 hours a day. This is called a sedentary lifestyle, and it increases the risk of heart diseases.

This research project aims to find out if a newly developed context specific mobile phone application can help these sedentary employees to improve their lifestyle. The app, called m-LIfE (mHealth-based Lifestyle Intervention for Employees), will be designed to help employees to move more during the day and eat healthier food like fruits and vegetables.

The study will involve bank employees in urban Karachi, Pakistan. They will be divided into two arms:

Intervention arm: Participants in this arm will use the m-LIfE app for 12 weeks. They will get reminders and tips to take breaks, exercise, and eat healthy.

Routine care arm: Participants in this arm will receive printed basic educational material about prevention of risk factors of heart diseases and improving lifestyle.

After the 12 weeks of intervention, there will be a follow-up period at 4th week to check if participants are maintaining healthy habits.

This study could help find simple and affordable ways to improve the health of office workers and reduce pressure on the healthcare system.

Conditions

• Physical Activity
• Life Style
• Dietary Habits
• Cardiovascular Diseases

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

m-LIfE: mobile based lifestyle intervention for employees to increase their physical activity and promote healthy diet.

The m-LIfE will primarily deliver healthy lifestyle educational content, provide customized strategies for PA, and offer participants the option to enter their daily intake of fruits and vegetables through Food Log feature. m-LIfE will track PA and diet, send tailored reminders, and provide motivational messages. Participants will receive two text messages daily: a goal reminder in the morning and feedback or reflection on their progress in the evening. Additionally, they will receive one motivational message at the end of each week to sustain their motivation. Personalized feedback will also be provided through the application, featuring graphs to illustrate daily, weekly, and monthly progress. To support participants further, the application will enable two-way communication, allowing users to seek assistance and ask questions from the research team. A dedicated contact number will be made available within the app to facilitate direct communication.

OTHER

Routine care arm

Participants in the routine care arm will receive educational material in the form of paper-based pamphlets to ensure they still benefit from basic health information on CVD risk prevention. They will continue their usual work routines without access to the app, but their PA and dietary habits will be assessed at baseline, post-intervention and at follow-up for comparative purposes.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Fogarty International Center of the National Institute of Health

  collaborator NIH

• Aga Khan University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Aysha Almas, PhD · Aga Khan University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

20 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-01-31

Primary Completion

2026-06-30

Completion

2026-08-31

Countries

• Pakistan

Study Locations